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A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION 


BOOKS BY CHARLES LEDYARD NORTON- 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. A Story of the 
Great Northwest. 295 pages. With five Illustra- 
tions by Frank O. Small. $1.50. 

JACK BENSON’S LOG ; or, Afloat with the Flag 
in ’61. 276 pages. With five Illustrations by 

George Gibbs. ^1.25. 

A MEDAL OF HONOR MAN ; or, Cruising Among 
Blockade Runners. 281 pages. With five Illustra- 
tions by George Gibbs. ^1.25. 


MIDSHIPMAN JACK. 290 pages. With five Illus- 
trations by George Gibbs. ;^i.25. 





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THAT’S A FINE GOBLER YOU HAVE THERE, YOUNG MAN!' ” 


A Soldier of the Legion 


A Story of the Great Northwest 



CHARLES LEDYARD NORTON 

AUTHOR OF “JACK BENSON’S LOG,” "A MEDAL OF HONOR 
MAN,” ” MIDSHIPMAN JACK,” ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

FRANK O. SMALL 



BOSTON AND CHICAGO 
W. A. WILDE & COMPANY 





i2B?9 

Copyright, 1898, 

By W. a. Wilde & Company. 
All rights reserved. 

A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION 


2nc. 

1398 . 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 

\V-t> 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

I. 

I, MY Foster-mother, and Some Other 

People 

PAGE 

1 I 

II. 

I A.M RECALLED FROM ExILE 

. 

22 

III. 

War for Independence 

. 

35 

IV. 

The Battle of Camden — Arnold the Traitor 

45 , 

V. 

Yorktown 

. 

56 

VI. 

The Log College .... 


68 

VII. 

The Freshman Class at Hampden-Sidney 

77 

VIII. 

Down the Appomattox 

• 

89 

IX. 

Exiled again — The Indian Campaign 

. 

lOI 

X. 

A Soldier of the Legion . 

• 

112 

XI. 

Doctor versus Soldier 

• 

124 

XII. 

An Independent Command . 

. 

135 

XIII. 

“ Long live the Young Republic ” . 

• 

147 

XIV. 

An Ohio “ Racer Bradee tells a Yarn 

155 

XV. 

“Johnny Appleseed” .... 


163 

XVI. 

“Fort Symmes” — A River Fight 


172 

XVII. 

“ Mad Anthony ” Wayne — Lieutenant 

Harri- 



SON 

• 

183 

XVIII. 

Miami Rapids — Victory under the 

British 



Guns ^ 

. 

191 


7 


8 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXL 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 


Captain Harrison meets his Match 
Governor of the New Northwest 

Prophet and Warrior 

Very near Capture — I surrender at Dis- 
cretion 

A Ghost Dance, and a Flag of Truce 
A “ Reserved Seat ” at Tippecanoe 

Exit the Prophet 

War with England 

The Siege of Fort Meigs . . . . 

Invasion of Canada 

President Harrison 


PAGE 

201 

213 

222 

230 

239 

248 

255 

263 

269 

276 

283 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

‘ That’s a fine gobbler you have there, young man . 

Frontispiece 1 7 

“ ‘ Rouse, rouse ye ! ’ he shouted ” . . . - 49 

“ We lighted a fire on the hearth and made a cup of 

tea” . . . . . . . . .117 

“ She was silent for a moment ” 207 

I folded my arms . . . and fixed my gaze full upon the 

Prophet ” . 240 


9 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


CHAPTER I. 

I AND MY FOSTER-MOTHER AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE. 

1 WHO tell this story am called Sergeant Bassett, hav- 
ing held that rank for a time in the old First Infan- 
try before ever it was changed to the First Sub-Legion 
of the United States. 

My Christian name, as any one may see by searching 
in the parish records of Charles City County, Virginia, 
is Carolinus, given’ me at the suggestion of the rector of 
old St. John’s Church, because it was believed that one 
or the other of the Carolinas was my true birthplace. 
Bassett was the maiden name of my foster-mother, as 
will hereafter appear ; for, although this story does not 
particularly concern me, I am told by my granddaughter, 
who is helping me to put it into some sort of readable 
shape, that I must tell who I am at the very outset, lest 
people doubt that I was really a witness of all that I am 


12 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


going to relate concerning one who had so much to do 
with founding the great Middle West. 

It is very easy to quote my name and the date of my 
baptism from the parish register ; but the name that 
I ought really to bear is quite another matter. I only 
know that my father was killed by the fierce Shawnee 
warrior, “Cornstalk,” in one of his raids on the Carolina 
settlements. My mother and I were carried off into the 
Creek country, where she died after a year or two of 
captivity, having been treated kindly enough by her 
captors, after their fashion of kindliness, and I was left 
to take my chances among little savages of my own age 
in an Indian village. 

After a time vengeance came upon my captors in the 
shape of an expedition from the coast settlements, 
which exterminated the village and most of its inhabi- 
tants. I have been told that I was espied by one of 
the Virginia soldiers, burrowing like a frightened rabbit 
under a heap of terror-stricken squaws and pappooses. 
He, thinking that I looked perhaps a shade or two 
whiter than the rest, caught me by the heel and dragged 
me out, when it appeared that I was in very truth a 
white child. My rescuer made some inquiries among 
the surviving Indian captives, but learned no more 
than I have told. He noticed, however, that there 
was a symbol of some kind tattooed with Indian ink 


I, MY FOSTER-MOTHER, AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE. 13 

upon my left arm, and, thinking that it might be a 
means of restoring me to my kindred, and incidentally 
perhaps of advantage to himself, he slung me in a sack 
and carried me the long journey on horseback, more 
dead than alive, till in due time the cavalcade of fron- 
tiersmen rode into Richmond Town, laden with the 
spoils of their raid. 

Now as a good Providence would have it, a certain 
young lady, a noted belle of her day and neighbor- 
hood, to wit. Mistress Elizabeth Bassett, was sitting 
upon her horse in Richmond Main Street, escorted by 
one Benjamin Harrison, Esq., of Berkeley, whom she 
afterward married. Seeing the poor little white waif 
strapped to a load of skins upon a packhorse, her 
heart was touched, and half in pity, half in mischief, 
she challenged her cavalier to purchase me from my 
captor. 

So the young squire, being in that obedient frame 
of mind common to young men when they are paying 
court to the ladies of their choice, clapped spurs to 
his horse, clattered up alongside the mountain man, 
and became my owner upon paying down ten shillings 
in the King’s money. 

This transaction did not seem at all extraordinary 
at the time, for it was only a very few years since the 
purchase and sale of white bond-servants and “ redemp- 


14 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


tioners ” were matters of everyday occurrence. It 
would not have excited any especial wonderment had 
it been discovered that I bore a brand somewhere upon 
my person to indicate lawful ownership. However, 
the only brand was the mysterious tattoo-mark to which 
I have referred. My transfer, therefore, from the 
guardianship of a rough backwoodsman to that of a 
well-known country gentleman was regarded as a piece 
of rare good fortune for me. 

The young squire rode back to his lady’s side, carry- 
ing me somewhat gingerly by the slings of my deerskin 
travelling-sack, which he had bargained for when he 
made offer for its contents, and when Mistress Bassett 
and her companions perceived, upon closer inspec- 
tion, what a dreadful condition I was in from my 
long journey, they had me taken at once to the 
nearest available house, where I was washed and fed 
and mercifully laid away in a crib to sleep off the 
effects of my long and rough journey. 

I have been told that when I was led forth next 
day, clad in civilized garb, suited to my tender age, 
I was altogether such a fascinating little white 
heathen of three or four years, that Mistress Bassett 
had much ado to prevent my being kidnapped over 
again, for adoption into some of the best houses of 
Henrico County. 


I, MY FOSTER-MOTHER, AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE. 1 5 

However, I was sent down to Berkeley in the 
market-boat belonging to the plantation, and was 
committed to the care of a competent negro slave 
woman, who took charge of me as if I had been her 
own. That was in 1761, and when, in due time. 
Squire Harrison brought his bride home in a coach 
and four, she straightway decreed that I must come 
to the great house and be made a pet of. 

All efforts were in vain to determine who I was, 
though the mysterious symbol upon my left arm was 
curiously inspected by all the local experts in heraldry. 
That it was a coat-of-arms, all were agreed, but it 
had been done by an unskilled hand, and the bear- 
ings could not be recognized. So my childhood be- 
gan under the most favorable conditions possible in 
America at that early day, and who knows but that I 
might have become great and famous had my affairs 
continued as at first ? 

But a lawful son and heir was presently born to the 
Harrisons, and the young mother, in her pride and hap- 
piness, forgot the poor little foundling of whom she had, 
until that time, made so much. I endured my neglect 
as best I could, but at last I suppose the savage 
instinct of my still earlier training must have asserted 
itself, for I broke out one day, and in a fit of childish 
jealousy made a fierce attack upon my baby rival. 


1 6 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

Fortunately, my foster-mother entered the room 
just in time to save her first-born, perhaps from se- 
rious harm, for I was a sturdy little barbarian, and 
fortunately, again, her husband arrived upon the scene 
in time to prevent her from executing capital punish- 
ment upon me. 

This unfortunate outburst ended for the time my 
residence at Berkeley. Madam Harrison’s nerves were 
so unstrung by the occurrence that she could not 
abide the thought, much less the sight of me about 
the house, so I was banished to a far-away planta- 
tion belonging to the estate, and left there to out- 
grow my savage instincts, if possible, under the care 
of the overseer and his wife, who were childless. 

They were decent enough folk, he a “ redemptioner,” 
Saxon by name, who had served his time and secured 
his fifty acres of bounty land, and she a woman of 
the peasant class but lately come over from the old 
country. They were both almost illiterate, and I grew 
up without any instruction whatever, save in the 
matter of obedience and enforced respect to my elders, 
and most of all in woodcraft, to which I took, as it 
were, by instinct, having perchance absorbed a certain 
amount of wild-wood nature during my Shawnee cap- 
tivity. Thus passed away some ten years of my 
life. 


I, MY FOSTER-MOTHER, AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE. 1/ 

Berkeley and its luxuries had become dim visions of 
the past, when one day, as I was going home, with my 
rifle on one shoulder, and a fine turkey that I had shot, 
slung over the other, I struck into the home trail most 
unexpectedly, a hundred yards in front of a gentleman 
and lady on horseback, followed by a black groom who 
led a packhorse laden with the saddle portmanteaus 
of the party. 

Travellers were very rare in that remote region, and 
during all my exile I had never seen such an elegant 
couple as were those who now approached. Being but 
a shy backwoods boy, I should probably have slipped 
into the underbrush and vanished like the wild creature 
that I was, could I have done so without being seen ; 
but the gentleman hailed me in a hearty voice, which 
somehow seemed to have a familiar ring in it, and I 
' could do naught but await their approach. 

“ That’s a fine gobbler you have there, young man,” 
and though I felt my face burning painfully at being 
addressed by so superb a personage, I could not but 
exhibit my trophy with a hunter’s pride. 

“ Shot through the head, ’pon my word ; look, 
Elizabeth, he has a true eye and a sure hand, this lad.” 

The lady assented with some words of appreciation, 
and then, addressing herself to me, “Turn this way and 
let me see you, my lad ; gentlemen are not wont to 


1 8 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

turn their backs upon me in that fashion. No, you 
need not fear to raise your eyes to mine ; am I, then, so 
terrible to look at ” 

The arts of polite jest and raillery were quite outside 
of my experience ; I trembled and scarce dared to lift 
my eyes to the kindly blue ones and the fair smiling 
face that looked down from the tall hunter on which 
she sat so gracefully. 

“ Why, husband,” she cried as soon as she had fairly 
looked me in the eyes, “ it is our own little Carol ; alas, 
that I should so remember that dreadful day,” and she 
turned her face from me and covered her eyes with her 
hand. 

“ Nay, nay, dear, all that is past and gone long since, 
and probably the lad, if this be he, hath altogether 
forgotten. Do not recall it, I pray you. What is your 
name, young man, and how far is it to Saxon’s } ” 

“ My name is Linus, master, and Saxon’s is three 
‘looks further on.” 

The horses walked, and I strode beside them, well 
aware, from time to time, that the lady was studying 
me attentively, though I could not, for the life of me, 
summon courage to do more than look at her out of the 
corner of my eye. 


1 A “ look ” is as far as one can see along a winding road. 


I, MY FOSTER-MOTHER, AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE. 1 9 

“ Why, how dull we are,” she cried at length in a 
changed mood, her voice once more taking on the 
pleasant tone that it had lost when she last spoke. 
“ How dull I am. ‘ Linus ! ’ why, that is short for 
Carolinus just as truly as was our own pet name, 
‘ Carol.’ Come around to my side, Carolinus, and give 
me your hand. You are my foster-child; don’t you 
remember me.^” 

She held her gloved hand down toward me, and I 
timidly grasped it and held on, not knowing in the least 
what to do with it, for not within my recollection had I 
seen, much less touched, a lady’s hand. 

She laughed presently at my embarrassment, and 
lightly disengaging her fingers, said, “You have quite 
forgotten me, I see ; well, I am glad of it ; we will 
begin all over again.” 

It was not until many years afterwards, that an old, 
old Virginian lady told me about my desperate attack 
upon my little foster-brother, and how Mistress Harri- 
son had saved his life. 

We had reached the long, low log-cabin, known as 
“ Saxon’s ” by this time, and the overseer and his wife 
received their visitors with what would nowadays be 
regarded as cringing deference. It soon dawned upon 
me, as I stood listening after the travellers had dis- 
mounted and were seated on puncheons in the “middle- 


20 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


space/’ that these were no other than our squire and 
his lady, persons of whose magnificence I had vaguely 
heard during my boyhood, but of whose actual existence 
I had but a very cloudy conception. 

Squire Harrison, it appeared, had suddenly deter- 
mined to visit this outlying portion of his large estate, 
and as Madam’s health and spirits were at their best 
and the weather fine, she had resolved to ride with him. 
It was two days’ journey distant from Berkeley, and 
a stop over-night at Saxon’s was unavoidable. So one 
half of the double cabin was given up to the visitors. 

The squire and his overseer talked horses, and cattle, 
and livestock generally, throughout the evening, and 
my lady appeared to find some amusement in question- 
ing and drawing me on to talk of my backwoods ambi- 
tions. 

The women of the provincial frontier in those early 
days were a brave and hardy race, inured to yeoman’s 
service, with axes and rifles, felling the forests and fight- 
ing the Indians with like determination and courage. 
A notable case of hardihood was that of Mrs. Mary 
Ingles, who only a few years before the time of which I 
write (1756, to be quite accurate) was carried off by 
the Shawnees from what is now Montgomery County 
to the “salt licks ” on the Ohio River. Here she met an 
elderly Dutch woman, also a captive, and the two pres- 


I, MY FOSTER-MOTHER, AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE. 21 


ently escaped together ; following the Ohio and the 
Great Kenawha rivers, traversing some three hundred 
miles of trackless wilderness, living upon corn taken 
from Indian plantations, and upon such wild fruits as 
they could find, they reached the settlements in Vir- 
ginia in forty-three days from the time of their escape 
from the Indians. 

Truly the women must have studied geography under 
good teachers in those days, although schools and maps 
were quite unknown to all save the gentle-folk. I ques- 
tion greatly whether many of our educated ladies now- 
adays would know which way to turn to find their way 
if they were set down on the banks of a strange river 
hundreds of miles from home.^ 

1 See colonial records of Virginia. Presumably these rather ill-natured 
reflections of Sergeant Bassett’s were originally made as early as 1845, 
when there were no women’s colleges at all, and the “ higher education” 
had not taken shape. Now, more than half a century later, it is to be 
assumed that all educated Americans know at least the general topo- 
graphical features of their country, and could find their way home without 
chart or compass if lost beside any of the principal watercourses or upon 
any of the mountain ranges. — Editor. 


CHAPTER 11. 

I AM RECALLED FROM EXILE. 

M other SAXON, the overseer’s wife, was a true 
frontier Amazon whom I regarded with a mixture 
of admiration and awe, for she was a stern woman who 
never hesitated to use the tough hickory wiping-stick 
of her husband’s rifle as an instrument of domestic dis- 
cipline. She too had been carried off by the Shawnees 
in her time, but it was only a small scouting party of 
three young braves who came down upon the house 
during her husband’s absence, took her by surprise and 
carried her off with them. She came back, however, 
two days afterward bringing the three rifles and three 
scalp-locks in proof of her prowess. 

Kind enough she had ever been to me after the 
rough frontier fashion, and since the only women that I 
remembered at all were of her sort, you may fancy what 
new sensations were awakened in my boyish heart when 
I found myself in the presence of a high-born Virginian 
dame, whose ways were gentle and who had an air of 


22 


I AM RECALLED FROM EXILE. 


23 


authority that was not lost even upon Mother Saxon 
herself. 

She sat in a rude, home-made rocking-chair shading 
her eyes from the firelight with one hand, and I watched 
her in a sort of trance from beside the hearthstone and 
answered her questions as best I might in a dream. 
For she had awakened within me dim, mysterious 
visions which I have never been quite able to account 
for, though they have revived at intervals all through 
my long life. 

When Squire Harrison had ended his talk with the 
overseer in the other half of the cabin, he came in 
where my lady and I were sitting and asked in his 
bluff, cheery fashion, how I liked my foster-mother. 
But I was tongue-tied, and hung my head for very 
embarrassment, and my lady said to me, “ Carol, lad, 
is there not a strange blue mark upon your left arm ? 
I think I remember such when you were little. Pull 
up your sleeve and let us see.” 

I silently obeyed, and the two examined the mark in 
the twilight with nods and glances at each other that 
were quite unintelligible to me. Then the squire, at 
my lady’s suggestion, drew from his wallet a slip of 
paper upon which was printed something that was not 
unlike what the Saxons called my “brand.” After 
comparing them apparently to their satisfaction, I was 


24 


A SOI.DIER OF THE LEGION. 


dismissed, the squire shaking hands, and my lady, to 
my great confusion, kissing me on the cheek for good- 
night. 

I had never at that time seen any one kissed save 
now and then a baby at some mountaineer’s cabin, and 
it was altogether a new idea that it could be done at all 
to a grown boy like me. However, I survived it and 
the next morning I was informed that I was to bid fare- 
well to “ Saxon’s,” and ride back with the squire and 
his lady to what was then well-nigh the centre of colo- 
nial civilization and culture. 

My belongings were very few, and but for my lady’s 
intercession I should hardly have been allowed to carry 
away anything beyond the clothes I stood in, which 
were partly of homespun and partly of tanned deerskin. 
The squire made it right with the overseer, however, 
and I rode away on my own horse that I had raised 
from a colt, and with my own rifle — one of those that 
Mother Saxon had triumphantly brought back from her 
Indian foray — resting upon my saddle-bow. 

So we rode off down the mountain trail, and in a few 
hours were far beyond the bounds of my previous ex- 
plorations. The only incident of the ride that is worth 
repeating occurred where we halted for the night at a 
friendly cabin. I lay on a blanket in the main room, 
but through the board partition overheard my lady 


I AM RECALLED FROM EXILE. 


25 


mention my name, and the squire replied, “No, no, my 
dear, I positively forbid it ; there is no certainty, and 
it might put foolish notions into his head that would 
spoil him for the kind of life that he will have to lead. 
Wait and see how he turns out.” 

I fancied there was something a bit rebellious in my 
lady’s tone as the dialogue continued, but she said noth- 
ing to me afterward, and it was not until after the 
battle of Tippecanoe, where I was sorely wounded, that 
I learned that my “brand ” was in fact the escutcheon 
of one of Prince Rupert’s officers who had the luck to 
escape to America when Cromwell ousted the cavaliers 
from England after the battle of Naseby, in 1646. 

My home-coming to Berkeley was in the autumn of 
1773, and we rode up to the door amid a great barking 
of dogs and joyous welcome from the children and 
house servants. There were two boys, now, both much 
younger than I, one of them no doubt the very one 
whom I had attacked in my early infancy and been 
banished to the mountains in consequence. Besides 
these there was a baby in the arms of his black 
“mammy,” who after having been rapturously kissed 
by his mamma turned his head about and held out his 
arms toward me. Now I had never seen much of 
babies, and boy-like had no special fancy for them. 
But when Mistress Harrison bade me take this little 


26 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


fellow in my arms, I felt a most unaccountable attrac- 
tion toward him. 

“ We call him Will for short,” she said, “ but his full 
name is William Henry Harrison. His father wanted it 
to be Patrick Henry, but we compromised on William.” 

I had never heard of Patrick Henry in my backwoods 
home. Indeed, that afterwards famous orator had not 
as yet greatly distinguished himself, but I was discreet 
enough to hold my tongue and not expose my ignorance. 

Will was only eight months old at this time, having 
been born on the 9th of February of that same year 
(1773). Inasmuch as this story has mainly to do with 
him, I may say that when he died sixty-eight years after- 
ward he was President of the United States. Before he 
attained that honor, however, he had passed through 
many perils by flood and field, and had done as much 
perhaps as any other one man to develop the great 
Northwestern Territory, and unconsciously to shape the 
destinies of many millions of people. 

Assuming 1757 as the date of my own birth, I was 
sixteen years old at the time of my return to Berkeley, 
but as simple and ignorant as a child of seven, and 
withal very much perplexed and astonished by the mag- 
nificence that I saw about me in this Virginian mansion 
beside the James River. I must have had some native 
intelligence, however ; for, encouraged by Mistress Har- 


I AM RECALLED FROM EXILE. 


27 


rison, I soon found myself learning my letters and mak- 
ing rapid progress toward reading and writing, and I 
began, as my brain awakened into activity after its long 
period of neglect, to feel an interest in what was going 
on around me. Only a little more than a mile below 
Berkeley on the river bank was Westover, the stateliest 
of old Virginian mansions. A few miles farther on was 
Williamstown, the seat of colonial government, where 
Lord Dunmore held court by decree of his majesty 
George the Fourth. Up stream, again, was Richmond, 
a very hotbed of disloyalty in the estimation of the 
governor. Rarely a day passed without one or another 
of the leading men of the time stopping to dine with 
Squire Harrison, as they rode about the country on 
business or pleasure, and thus I came to know most 
of the public men by sight, and was soon aware that 
Lord Dunmore had provoked much resentment by tarry- 
ing in New York for several months after his appoint- 
ment as governor of Virginia, taxing the colony mean- 
while, as was alleged, to pay his own expenses in the 
gay northern city. 

There was much indignant talk, too, about “ taxation 
without representation ” and the like, of which, by dint 
of listening and asking cautious questions, I managed 
to get some understanding. 

We heard of the Boston tea-party (16 December, 


28 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


1773) shortly after Christmas of that year, and in the 
following spring (March 25, 1774) Boston paid the pen- 
alty by having her rights as a seaport withdrawn, and 
General Gage stationed with a force of soldiers, to see 
that she behaved herself. 

Squire Harrison was away from home much of the 
time now ; committees were forming in all the colonies 
to take steps in regard to the crisis that was evidently 
approaching, and his presence and counsel were con- 
stantly in demand. There was a tradition in the neigh- 
borhood that the founder of the American branch of 
the family was General Thomas Harrison, one of Crom- 
well’s trusted officers, who was hanged after the restora- 
tion for the part he bore in the trial and execution of 
Charles the First. ^ 

The tradition referred to gained currency as the 
patriot cause gained strength. Regicides were not 
very popular while the country remained loyal, but 
as soon as people began to defy the crown, their pop- 
ularity quickly came to the fore. Again, descendants 

1 This is discredited by the best modern authority, Mr. Charles Penrose 
Keith, who has been unable to trace the line beyond one Benjamin Harri- 
son who came to Virginia from the Bermudas about 1629, and was ap- 
pointed clerk of council by Governor Hardy — a fact which certifies that 
he must have been a man of education and experience in public affairs. 
To him were made various grants of land, and beyond him the family 
has not been authoritatively traced. 


I AM RECALLED FROM EXILE. 


29 


of the Roundheads were not so much inclined to 
conceal their record. At all events the Harrisons were 
a very distinguished Virginian family, and although I 
was not exactly of them, I was among them, as a sort 
of recognized dependent and was as proud as they 
themselves of their supposed ancestry. This too, while 
all unconsciously I bore upon my arm the badge of a 
Royalist cavalier. 

My young squire had been elected to the House 
of Burgesses before his marriage, when only twenty- 
one years of age, and the governor recognizing his 
abilities offered him a place on the executive council 
so as to secure his services for the crown. The squire 
would not hear of that, however, and in 1774 he was 
chosen one of the deputies to attend the meeting of 
the first congress at Philadelphia. Thus it happened 
that I witnessed one of the very earliest incidents 
of the Revolutionary struggle. 

The congress was in session at Philadelphia, but it 
was expected to adjourn early in November, and Mis- 
tress Harrison determined to take the children, and 
with me for escort and attendant, besides the usual 
retinue of black servants, sail up to Baltimore and so 
bring her husband home. 

All the coastwise planters in those days kept barges 
and coasting craft, often quite a little fleet, for sending 


30 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


produce to market and engaging in other trafific, send- 
ing their vessels sometimes even beyond seas and 
not always, it is to be feared, refraining from expedi- 
tions which might very fairly be considered piratical. 
It was an easy matter to drop down the James to 
Hampton and thence sail up Chesapeake Bay to Bal- 
timore, which was only a short ride from Philadelphia 
itself. 

We sailed accordingly early in October, and found 
ourselves weatherbound in Annapolis harbor some 
three da)^s later. The old town was in quite a fever 
of excitement ; it was relatively a more important place 
then than it is now. The brig Peggy Stewart had 
just arrived with a quantity of tea, and without pausing 
to consider the consequences, the consignee, having in 
mind only his legitimate mercantile gains, had thought- 
lessly paid the duty, thereby recognizing the right 
of Parliament to exact the obnoxious tax against which 
the colonies were protesting. 

Mistress Harrison had plenty of friends in the town, 
and we had no lack of entertainment, passing much of 
our time on shore, while waiting for the wind to be- 
come favorable. The whole neighborhood was up in 
arms about the tea, threatening the importers with 
tar and feathers as the very lightest punishment suited 
to the enormity of their crime, and indeed their very 


I AM RECALLED FROM EXILE. 


31 


lives were in such danger that even Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton advised the culprits to burn the brig 
and her cargo in order to save their own lives and 
property as well as vindicate the honor of the colony. 
Of course this state of mind was largely inspired by 
the Boston tea-party which I have already mentioned ; 
the Marylanders not wishing to be one whit behind 
their Massachusetts brethren in actively protesting 
against the tyranny of King George’s ministers. 

We Virginians were all on board our own vessel 
anchored a little distance out from the landing, having 
been advised by our weatherwise sailing-master that a 
favorable change in the wind was at hand. All on a 
sudden we heard shouting and clamor, and a great 
mob on foot and on horseback came thronging down 
to the wharf where the Peggy Stewart was tied up with 
her objectionable cargo of tea below hatches. 

We could see Mr. Williams and Mr. Stewart, the con- 
signees and owners, pale and frightened, surrounded by 
a party of well-known gentlemen, who seemed to be 
endeavoring to keep back the mob and who were finding 
some difficulty in the task. 

At last, however, they got safely aboard the Peggy, 
the fasts were cast off, her head-sails hoisted, and she 
was run across the harbor, where she took ground, and 
was set on fire by Mr. Stewart himself, who was glad 


32 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


enough to make this seemingly needless sacrifice of his 
brig in order to escape with a whole skin. 

All this time the crowd had been increasing, till, as it 
seemed, the whole population of the town was on hand 
to watch the burning. Such was the “ Annapolis tea- 
party,” a bolder defiance of British authority in its 
way, than was the Boston tea-party of the preceding 
winter. 

The wind changed while the wreck of the Peggy was 
still aflame, so we made sail and got up our anchor, 
when somebody in the crowd on shore recognized the 
Berkeley house-pennant at the gaff, and started three 
cheers for Benjamin Harrison of Virginia. As the 
crowd had nothing else to do, the cheers were taken up 
by others as we got way on, and so we set sail for Balti- 
more amid quite a patriotic ovation, to which little Will 
Harrison listened, and at which he looked, little guess- 
ing that the same crowd would be cheering him on his 
own account before many years had passed. 

It was not until November 4th (1774) that the famous 
Declaration of Rights was passed by the Congress at 
Philadelphia, and shortly afterward Squire Harrison 
joined us, having ridden over on horseback, and we 
sailed back to Virginia, where we found that Lord Dun- 
more had an Indian war on his hands, under circum- 
stances that still farther incensed the colonies against 


I AM RECALLED FROM EXILE. 


33 


him and his administration. Matters went from bad 
to worse till he organized a guard of negroes for his 
“palace” in Williamsburg, and threatened to issue an 
emancipation proclamation stirring up a servile insur- 
rection, if the rebels did not cease their treasonable 
proceedings. 

Patrick Henry was a frequent visitor at Berkeley, and 
one of my earliest recollections is having heard him 
deliver that famous speech containing the now familiar 
passage beginning, “Gentlemen may cry ‘Peace, Peace,’ 
but there is no peace.” The following spring (1775), on 
the 30th day of April, we received news of the affair of 
Lexington and Concord eleven days before. The news 
was carried by mounted messengers from the headquar- 
ters of one committee of safety to the next, and so in 
just twenty days it went from Boston to Charleston — 
wonderfully quick work for that time. 

Amidst such scenes as these did my little playmate 
Will Harrison begin to listen and comprehend. He 
was nearly two and a half years old when news came of 
the fight at Bunker’s Hill, and my martial enthusiasm 
was naturally aroused to a very high pitch. I used in 
those days to carry little Will in my arms down to the 
river bank, in deep distress of mind, and discourse to 
him at great length of my warlike aspirations, while he 
would listen to me wide-eyed, and, as I fancied, with a 


34 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


certain degree of comprehension. At all events it was 
unspeakable comfort to have him to confide in, knowing 
that he could not well betray any of my secrets, any 
more than could my deer-hound who generally made 
one of the party. 


CHAPTER III. 


WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

[ WAS now nearly eighteen years of age, one of the 
best horsemen in Charles City County, and, in my 
own estimation, at least the best rifle shot between 
James River and the Chickahominy. Many a younger 
lad had already faced the flash of British guns in several 
of the colonies, and even in Canada on the precipitous 
rocks of Quebec, when, on the last day of the year 
1775, the gallant Montgomery fell when success seemed 
almost within his grasp. 

Squire Harrison, as I have said, was absent from 
home a great part of the time, and had learned to trust 
to me as a sort of sentry permanently on duty about 
the home premises. Under the circumstances I could 
hardly desert my post ; though, when news of fighting 
was brought to us by some chance messenger, it was 
with difficulty that I could restrain myself from sad- 
dling my horse and riding away to join the partisan 
rangers in the Carolina plantations. However, I found 
great relief to my feelings in one special department of 

35 


36 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

my duties. I held from the squire a sort of roving 
commission as a general purveyor of venison and wild 
turkey for the family table; and, as he always took 
good care to keep me supplied with a Kentucky rifle 
of the best make and plenty of ammunition, I was fain 
to content myself with hunting-expeditions that some- 
times reached far into the mountains, and once or twice 
gave me a little taste of Indian fighting, for the war 
had drawn so many men away from the border that the 
Indians were again becoming troublesome, even along 
the edge of the old settlements. 

Again, it was no unusual occurrence for some uncle 
or cousin of the Harrisons who was in the army to stay 
for several days at Berkeley ; and, upon these occasions, 
I could ride far afield and camp in the wilds over-night, 
usually returning on foot, leading my horse laden with 
all that he could carry in the way of game. Thus did 
I become tireless afoot or on horseback, and my skill 
with the rifle began to be noised abroad wherever men 
got together to talk about shooting and firearms, as 
almost everybody did of an evening in those days. 

One diversion, in which the Harrison boys and I 
found great satisfaction, was a moving target made in 
the similitude of a British grenadier. The two older of 
the Harrison boys had now reached the age when 
everything in the shape of firearms possessed boundless 


WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 


37 


attractions for them, but they were too young to be 
allowed to imperil the lives of their fellow-beings with- 
out proper supervision, and in those days there were no 
Chinese firecrackers to be let off instead of actual guns. 
Accordingly, they would often tease me to take my rifle 
and give them lessons in shooting at a mark. One of 
these boys was quite a mechanical genius, and one day 
he called me to see a contrivance that he had set up in 
the shallow current of a little stream that wound down 
across the plantation to the James River not far from 
the house. It was nothing more than a stake driven 
down into the bottom of the creek with a wheel or 
spool loosely fitted about it and floating at the surface 
of the water. 

The mysterious part of the machine was that this 
wheel kept revolving steadily in the current, without 
any apparent reason, till he lifted it off the stake and 
showed me the under side where he had fastened some 
flaps of leather which caught the current on one half 
of the wheel as it revolved and lay flat on the other 
half, so that the wheel was kept turning round and 
round steadily by the movement of the current. 

But this was not all. When I had sufficiently ad- 
mired the ingenuity of the contrivance, what did my 
little companion do but pull out a coil of line from a 
hollow stump where he had hidden it. Upon this he 


38 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


had fitted some cone-shaped floats, and tied the two 
ends together, so that a sort of an endless chain of floats 
was formed, all of them with their sharp ends pointing 
in the same direction. Throwing a bight of the line 
over the revolving wheel, which was grooved in its rim, 
he let the rest of it float down stream. Upon this, all 
the floats on the hither side of the wheel began to 
travel up stream against the current, while those on 
the farther side went down stream till they came to the 
turn at the lower bight of the line, when they turned, 
and so followed one another in ceaseless procession up 
stream and down stream. 

“ What will you do with it now you have it work- 
ing ? ” I asked. 

“Ah, I’ll soon show you.” And with that he dived 
again into his hollow stump and fetched some little 
red-painted manikins like British redcoats. These he 
attached to his floats at intervals, and the queer little 
procession began its march, looking, at a little distance, 
quite like miniature soldiers of the king. I laughed till 
I nearly cried at the ingenious device, and so praised 
the inventor that he revealed to me the rest of his 
scheme, which was to anchor this contrivance for a 
moving target out in the stream of James River, where 
we could shoot at the moving figures with the rifle, and 
make believe that they were genuine redcoats, and that 


WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 


39 


we were in very fact sending our bullets at the soldiers 
of King George. So we took the apparatus over to the 
river, and anchored it in the edge of the channel where 
the tide would cause the manikins to march up and 
down on the surface of the water in whichever way 
the tide happened to be running. 

The sport of shooting at a moving target proved so 
fascinating that after having shot the little figures all 
to pieces, we immediately set to work to make two 
or three life-size British grenadiers, rig them on floats 
and set up a treadmill for them farther out from shore. 
Thus they would perpetually walk their beats like 
sentries, and we could practise at them with rifles to 
better satisfaction than had been the case with the 
little manikins. 

So we went to work in secret and presently had our 
machine in working order. Squire Harrison was soon 
expected home to spend a brief recess of the Congress, 
and we planned to give him a surprise upon his arrival. 
Several of the Virginia delegation came down from 
Baltimore by the regular Richmond packet boat, a 
sailing-sloop popularly known as the Tarrapiuy whose 
trips were regular only as wind and tide permitted. 

The Tarrapin had been sighted from the bluffs the 
day before coming down the Chesapeake, but that 
was late in the afternoon, so we did not expect her 


40 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


that day. She had some passengers to land at West- 
over on the morning of her arrival, and having set them 
ashore, she filled away again for Harrison’s landing. 

No sooner had they got away from Westover than 
somebody discovered what looked to be scarlet-coated 
soldiers solemnly stalking to and fro on the surface 
of the water opposite Berkeley. Now there had been 
a few raids of the British from time to time along the 
coast, and it was not by any means outside the range 
of possibility that a party of them might have landed 
south of the river, and come up to threaten the midland 
plantations. Of course nobody stopped to consider 
the impossibility of a British grenadier walking on the 
surface of the James River. There they were at all 
events, and a great commotion was at once visible 
on the deck of the sloop. She was thrown sharply 
up in the wind, the skipper got out his glass, and it 
was said that some of the delegates made ready their 
pistols and examined the priming in anticipation of 
a brush with the enemy. 

The Berkeley household were all down at the land- 
ing to welcome the returning delegates, and when the 
sloop luffed on discovering the redcoats. Mistress Har- 
rison signalled to her eldest boy to hoist the colors on 
the flagstaff that stood at the landing. The flag was 
run up in a ball, and broken out by a jerk of the 


WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 


41 


halyard, when it was mastheaded in true man-o’-war 
style. 

This flag had a history of its own. It was not 
exactly like the one that now floats from ten thousand 
mastheads, and is known on every sea. This one had 
its origin at one of the early sessions of the Conti- 
nental Congress, where our own Squire Harrison was 
appointed in company with Benjamin Franklin and 
Mr. Thomas Lynch to consider the question of a flag 
for the new republic, or whatever the coming inde- 
pendent nation might turn out to be, for whether it 
should be a republic or not was not very clear at that 
time in the minds of its projectors. This committee 
held its sittings, I believe, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
whither its members had gone on some congressional 
business. Boston was then held by the British, and 
the committee, after consultation, devised a flag which 
was hoisted over the American works and in sight of 
the enemy. From the description of this flag, sent 
home by her husband. Mistress Harrison and her house- 
maids made the one that we hoisted at the landing- 
place in honor of the squire’s return. It bore the 
familiar thirteen stripes of our present flag, but instead 
of the galaxy of stars on a blue field there were the 
king’s colors, that is to say, the cross of St. George. 
This device was not very popular, and it was super- 


42 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


seded before long;^ but it served our purpose well 
enough for this occasion, and was received with due 
enthusiasm, for not many of the spectators had ever 
seen an American flag at that time. 

The idea of the committee seems to have been 
not to indicate in the design a revolt against the 
sovereignty of England, but rather to express the 
idea of a union of the colonies. Indeed, when the Brit- 
ish saw this unknown flag hoisted over the American 
camp near Boston, and made out the Union Jack in 
the corner, they thought that the Americans had 
decided to surrender and resume their allegiance to 
the British crown. 

All the rifles and muskets in the house had been 
brought down to the landing and carefully loaded, and 
just as the flag floated free, we all opened fire on the 
redcoat targets. Some of the guns were old Queen 
Anne musketoons with which troops were wont to 
blaze away at each other in those days with fatal results 
when they were at very close quarters, so we sent quite 
a shower of big round bullets splashing about the feet 
of the targets, for at that distance the old-fashioned 
pieces could not be depended upon for accuracy. 

Cheers and much laughter rose from the sloop as 

1 Namely, on June 14, 1777, when Congress adopted the stars on a blue 
ground for the union. 


WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 


43 


the passengers discovered the ruse. The helm was 
put down, the sails filled again, and the Tarrapin came 
bowling up stream. As it was near slack high water, 
she let her sails come down by the run, forged up to 
the wharf in good shape, got a line ashore and made 
fast. Squire Harrison took a pierhead jump, and 
straightway received a most loving welcome from his 
wife and children. 

But while the freight and luggage was unloading, 
the other passengers did not forget the marvel of the 
moving target, and I was soon surrounded by a curious 
group, to whom I had to explain the whole mechanism 
of the thing, and was finally called upon fo show what 
I could do with the rifle. I declined to fire until Squire 
Harrison was appealed to by one of his fellow-members, 
upon which he turned from his family, shook hands 
cordially with me, and asked if I could hit one of the 
redcoats. 

I replied that I thought I could, and stepping to the 
pierhead, threw the rifle to my shoulder, and sent a 
bullet through one of the moving figures just as he 
turned to go down stream. Everybody heard the ball 
strike the target, but could not at that distance tell 
precisely where it had hit. So nothing would do but 
a boat must go over and locate the wound. 

It turned out that my shot had gone so near the 


44 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


heart that the British grenadier was pronounced as good 
as dead, and I was made much of ; and Squire Harrison 
was roundly told that it was his plain duty to let me enlist, 
and go where my marksmanship would do some good. 

The squire said nothing at the time, but before his 
visit was over he sent for me into his library one day, 
and told me that if I was so minded he should place no 
obstacle in the way of my enlisting in the patriotic cause. 

So it came about that on the 4th of July, 1777, just 
one year after the Declaration of Independence was 
signed, I was ferried across the York River with my 
horse, after bidding farewell to my dear foster-mother 
and little four-year-old Will, and away I rode, follow- 
ing the post road to the northward, where I joined the 
army commanded by Washington, and bore my part as 
well as I knew how in the tedious campaigns that 
included Burgoyne’s surrender in October, and Wash- 
ington’s victory at Monmouth in June of 1778. 

I carried letters from Squire Harrison to friends 
in the army, but now for the first time I ran squarely 
against the disadvantage of having had no education. 
I was a capital fighting-man and had an excellent 
memory for anything that I could understand, but 
when it came to reading or writing I was not good 
for much, though I had made some little progress in 
that direction since my recall from the backwoods. 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE BATTLE OF CAMDEN ARNOLD THE TRAITOR. 

I SHALL not waste any more words on my own per- 
sonal experiences, save to say that when the British 
took Charleston in May, 1780, and began their cam- 
paigns in the Carolinas, I was ordered South. General 
Gates, who had won great fame as the conqueror of 
Burgoyne, was sent to conduct this campaign against 
Cornwallis in the South, and I had the misfortune to 
be in the thick of the disastrous action at Sander’s 
Creek near Camden, South Carolina, on August 20, 
1780. The American army was utterly routed, and 
I was for a time counted as one of the thousand or 
more killed, wounded, and missing. More lucky than 
many of my comrades, however, I was only wounded 
and took good care to remain “ missing.” It was 
not difficult for such a born woodsman to subsist, so I 
lay in hiding just outside the British lines till I had 
an opportunity to capture a fine horse from a trooper 
who was heedlessly riding through the pine woods. 

It was more than three hundred miles to the James 
River, and I was near ten days traversing North Caro- 


45 


46 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


lina. When I rode into the stable yard at Berkeley 
I should have fallen out of my saddle, had not one of 
the boys caught me as I tried to dismount. Travel- 
stained, gaunt, bandaged as I was, no wonder they 
hardly recognized me, but word was soon carried to 
the house, and I was presently partaking of a repast 
the like of which I had not seen for many a day. 

My wound, however, was not very serious, else I 
could never have survived the long horseback ride 
from Camden. Rest and care soon fitted me to 
resume my old place in the domestic economy until 
such time as I should be sufficiently recovered to 
return to duty. 

It was more than three years since I had seen any 
of my patron’s family ; three years of marchings and 
counter-marchings, of campaigns on foot and on 
horseback, of skirmishings, of defeats, and now and 
then a little taste of victory that cheered us all up 
wonderfully and made us feel that we were not fight- 
ing in vain. Of course I had become bronzed and 
rugged with exposure and had grown older, but that 
was only in appearance. I was as young at heart as 
when I had taken my first shot at the make-believe 
British redcoats marching their beat on the surface of 
the James River. Little Will Harrison had outgrown 
his baby frocks and was already become a stout lad 


BATTLE OF CAMDEN — ARNOLD THE TRAITOR. 47 

of seven, and the other boys and girls too had grown 
apace, but I was at once made to feel that I was no 
stranger, was assigned quarters in the overseer’s 
house, which chanced to be vacant, and which soon 
became a favorite resort for little Will and his 
brothers and sisters, who found the returned soldier 
an agreeable companion. 

Squire Harrison was a prominent member of the 
Continental Congress when I rode away to the wars, 
and so remained till ’78, when he returned home and 
was chosen speaker of the Virginia House of Dele- 
gates, then sitting at Williamsburg. 

It was often possible for him to ride home for a 
Sunday and spend the night at other times, and he 
persuaded me to undertake the organization of a com- 
pany of irregular horse recruited as home guards in 
the neighborhood. I could do this in a region where 
I was known although I should not have been con- 
sidered competent to hold a regular commission in the 
Continental line or even in the Virginia militia. So 
I was duly detailed from my old regiment for special 
duty, and soon had my company of home guards in 
fairly good shape considering our lack of uniform 
equipments. 

The three Harrison boys were privileged characters 
about our camp and were allowed to ride over almost 


48 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

whenever they liked ; but little Will, although the 
youngest, was by far the most promising soldier of 
the family, though in spite of his proficiency and ap- 
titude in all matters of drill, he was not in the least 
quarrelsome amongst his fellows or domineering even 
among the little slave children at the negro quarters. 
So apt was he at the drill that before the New Year 
of 1780 came in he had organized the little black 
pickaninnies into a company, arming them with sticks 
and actually brought them to quite a creditable de- 
gree of efficiency for such a ragged, irresponsible set 
of beggars as they were. 

The dreadful news of Arnold’s treason reached 
Virginia in October, several days of course after its 
occurrence, and caused, as you well may guess, deep 
indignation among those who had the cause of inde- 
pendence at heart. We little thought that we of the 
James River counties should be the first to feel the 
weight of the traitor’s sword, for thus far the war 
had come to us only as a distant murmur. There 
had been now and then a British man-of-war an- 
chored down at Old Point, and occasionally expedi- 
tions had been landed south of the James. You might 
iiave climbed Richmond Hill on any sunny day in De- 
cember, 1780, and you could not have seen anything to 
indicate that the most powerful monarch in the world 


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“ ‘rouse, rouse YE!’ HE SHOUTED.” 





BATTLE OF CAMDEN — ARNOLD THE TRAITOR. 49 

had been trying for years to hoist his flag over that 
fair land. 

But on the last night save one of the year a 
courier dashed in at the gateway and pulled up with 
a clatter at the house door at dead of night. The 
mansion was dark, only one or two night lights burn- 
ing in silent chambers. 

“ Rouse, rouse ye,” he shouted, pounding on the door 
with the butt of his pistol. “Arnold is at Hampton 
with the King’s ships and three thousand redcoats.” 

I was awakened by the noise, and the house was 
in a tumult at once. Getting quickly to horse, I 
rode away to assemble my troops, and the last thing 
that I saw by a blaze of torches in the quarters was 
little Will mustering his troop of black pickanin- 
nies in front of the overseer’s house. The squire, 
who was at home, galloped off to Westover as soon 
as ever he could dress and mount, and as I rode 
swiftly from house to house along the countryside, 
routing out my men, I could not but laugh over and 
over again, remembering little Will and his troop of 
black infants in the quarters. 

We need not have been in so very much haste, 
for there was small likelihood that the invaders would 
be likely to come up the river or even to make a 
landing before daylight. Indeed, it was not until 

D 


50 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


four days later that Arnold pushed his advance up 
the river, landing just below Berkeley with Colonel 
Simcoe’s horse and making but small account of such 
resistance as we were able to offer. Virginia had 
sent her best troops to the North, with Washington, 
and the cool-headed ones among us from the gov- 
ernor, Thomas Jefferson, at Richmond, down to the 
poorest planter who had anything to lose were 
not anxious to provoke the destruction of private 
property by making a stand when there was no pos- 
sibility of success. 

I and my troop had the satisfaction of making it 
unsafe for the British to ride recklessly about, and 
we had several pretty little skirmishes with them 
among the hills and forests bordering the James. 
But in spite of all we could do they pushed their way 
to Richmond and beyond, destroying great quantities of 
tobacco and stores, both public and private. But Gen- 
eral Steuben soon collected an American force suffi- 
cient to restrain them for a time within their intrench- 
ments at Portsmouth. Now indeed we began to realize 
that the war was at our doors, and we were in a con- 
stant state of excitement and anxiety. Scarcely a day 
passed that some of Tarleton’s dreaded troopers did 
not ride into the yard, usually in sufficient force to over- 
awe alj possible, resistance. 


BATTLE OF CAMDEN — ARNOLD THE TRAITOR. 5 1 

Lord Cornwallis had by this time abandoned his 
campaign in the Carolinas, and marched northward into 
Virginia to effect a junction with the forces already 
there. Washington, seeing that the militia was unable 
to hold its own in Virginia, and that a crisis was 
evidently approaching in that vicinity, sent Lafayette 
with twelve hundred Continental light infantry to Rich- 
mond. The gallant young French marquis was very 
short of horsemen, but once or twice when he could 
muster an escort he rode down to Berkeley and 
Westover and cheered us up amazingly with what he 
said. As I remember him, he was somewhat less gay 
and buoyant in bearing than most Frenchmen, but he 
had a very winning smile and gained the hearts of old 
and young alike. 

Those were indeed exciting times, for Washington 
and Rochambeau came quickly down with further rein- 
forcements from the North, and the French fleet of De 
Grasse lay in Lynn Haven Bay ready to aid in whatever 
way might seem most effective. Twenty-four ships of 
the line there were, manned by nineteen thousand sea- 
men, and we almost fancied sometimes, when the wind 
was in the right direction, that we could hear their heavy 
guns when they were at target practice, or, perhaps, it 
might be beginning an engagement with the British 
fleet that might reasonably be expected at any time. 


52 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


It was on the fifth of September, that the British fleet, 
under Admirals Graves and Hood, actually made its 
appearance off the Virginia capes, with nineteen great 
ships of the line manned by thirteen thousand English 
mariners. No English naval officer, at that day, would 
hesitate for an instant to face such odds as these on 
blue water, so the British stood off and on outside the 
capes, and De Grasse made sail and went out to sea to 
give them their wish. A good many of the people 
thereabout who got wind of what was going on rode 
down the peninsula where they could see the fleet get 
under way, but they had small satisfaction, for it was 
four o’clock in the afternoon before the engagement 
began, at such a distance that it was hardly to be seen 
from the Virginia shore. At sunset the advantage was 
so far with the French that seven of the British ships 
were disabled. The French were content, next day, to 
let well enough alone, unless Johnny Bull was deter- 
mined to fight it out, but for once, he had had enough 
of French gunnery, and after waiting a few days out- 
side the Chesap’eake, sailed back to New York, leaving 
De Grasse master of the situation. 

By October, the British were hopelessly cooped up 
inside their lines at Yorktown. Then began the regular 
siege operations. I, being well mounted, was charged, 
for the most part, with bearing despatches. Often I 


BATTLE OF CAMDEN — ARNOLD THE TRAITOR. S3 

was sent up as far as Richmond, and could frequently 
manage to call at Berkeley, giving the latest news of the 
siege, and at last, about the middle of October, Will, 
who had been fretting at his inability to see what was 
going on, so near at hand, somehow managed to get his 
mother’s consent that he should ride with me and spend 
a day or two in camp. I being responsible that he 
should run into no kind of danger. 

You may think, perhaps, that it was a good deal of a 
journey for a young boy of seven years to undertake 
on horseback, but Virginian lads of that day made 
nothing of even longer rides than this, so that it was 
nothing extraordinary for him to ride to the front 
under suitable escort such as I flattered myself I could 
give him. 

The investment of Yorktown by the American forces 
and their allies, the French, had now been complete for 
several days. The outworks of the British had been 
carried by storm, the French taking one and the Ameri- 
cans the other, and the bombardment of the crumbling 
earthworks was incessant. The allied camp was 
established out of range of the British guns, my own 
tent being but a short distance from Washington’s 
headquarters, where he and his staff had pitched their 
tents about midway of the American lines. We could 
hardly have been better situated for my young charge 


54 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


to see what was going on. The different generals of 
division were often in consultation with the commander- 
in-chief, kindly General Lincoln, the stern old Baron 
Steuben, the dashing young Marquis of Lafayette, and 
others almost as well known, were likely to ride up at 
any hour of the day and night, and there was a cease- 
less bustle of staff officers and mounted orderlies 
riding back and forth on all sorts of errands. 

Master Will had insisted upon wearing a buckskin 
hunting-shirt, that was his nearest approach to a 
military uniform. This, with a coonskin cap, made 
him look quite like the uniformed companies of rifle- 
men, and as his outfit was not unlike my own, we 
attracted a good deal of attention in riding about. 
When we went past the headquarters guard, he on his 
little Indian pony, and I on my tall Kentucky thorough- 
bred, we made quite a stir. The sentry on post, when 
certain that the officer of the guard was not in sight, 
would sometimes bring his piece to a present, as if salut- 
ing a field officer, and little Will sat up very straight 
in his saddle and touched his cap in acknowledgment 
of the salute, with all the dignity of a veteran. 

Of course the little fellow was very tired with his long 
ride, but nothing would do short of mounting to the 
roof of a house that stood within our lines, whence we 
could look down toward Yorktown and see the shells 


BATTLE OF CAMDEN — ARNOLD THE TRAITOR. 55 

bursting over the fortress and around the British ensign 
that floated from the flagstaff. There we stayed till the 
sun was almost set, watching the long line of earth- 
works and the puffs of white smoke which showed where 
the fight was on. 

Will was rather disappointed with the show, and in- 
deed there is little e.xcitement in seeing a combat from 
a safe distance. Men and horses look like pygmies, and 
when one falls to the ground you do not at all realize 
that perhaps he is writhing in his death agony, or dread- 
fully mangled, and perhaps killed outright. It is as if a 
toy rider were to fall from a toy horse. We were too 
far away to see the carnage and hear the whistle of bul- 
lets, and the howl of heavier projectiles, and tired as he 
was, my little fighting man asked to be taken directly to 
the advance parallel. 

I would not listen to this, of course, so after seeing 
the night reliefs march out, and although my young 
master resolutely declared his intention of staying awake 
till taps, like all the rest of the soldiers, sleep overcame 
him before tattoo, and I laid him away on blankets in 
the corner of my tent, where he slept the sleep of tired 
boyhood, till the rattling drums of reveille waked him at 
five o’clock the next morning. 


CHAPTER V. 


YORKTOWN. 

I T was hardly light enough to see, but the guns were 
pounding away sullenly, as indeed they had been 
doing all night long. Of necessity Will had slept in his 
clothes and looked rather the worse for wear, but I made 
shift to get him washed and combed after a fashion, so 
that when breakfast was over he looked almost as well 
as he had done the day before. 

Our horses, which I had seen well attended to in the 
early morning, were waiting for us, and we mounted to 
make the rounds of the intrenchments, but our ride was 
unexpectedly interrupted. The sergeant of the head- 
quarters guard hailed me as we rode past. He was an 
old comrade of mine in the Northern campaigns. 

“ Do you know what day this is ? ” said he. 

“Yes, it’s a Wednesday.” 

“What day of the month, I mean.” 

“Nay, that’s too much for my arithmetic,” said I. 
“ ’Tis October, and that’s all I know about it.” 

“ Why, man, have you forgotten ? It’s the glorious 
56 


YORKTOWN. 57 

seventeenth, the day we helped Burgoyne to surrender 
up at Saratoga.” 

“So ’tis,” said I, thinking a moment, “and here’s 
hoping my Lord Cornwallis will celebrate the anniversary 
as befits. It must be getting pretty warm for him inside 
the works there.” 

We rode on, and as we passed in front of headquarters 
tent, who should appear in front of the marquee, having 
probably just finished their breakfast, but Washington 
and Lafayette. They were both in the buff and blue 
Continental uniform, and as both were somewhat 
careful in the matter of their dress, they looked very 
gallant and gay like the officers and gentlemen that 
they were. 

They stood talking in the sunshine as we rode by 
with our right hands to our caps in salute. The comi- 
cal contrast between the miniature rifleman on his pony 
and the big one on his charger must have caught Wash- 
ington’s eye as we passed. The Marquis of Lafayette 
called after us : 

“ Ho, there, my little man, come back here ; your 
general wants you.” 

Will wheeled his pony and cantered back to where 
the two gentlemen were standing. They looked smil- 
ingly at him, for he was a frank, handsome youngster, 
and very taking withal in his rifleman’s costume. 


58 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


“ Who are you, my lad ? ” asked Washington. 

“ William Henry Harrison, sir.” 

“ Ah, a son of my old friend Harrison of Berkeley, 
perhaps.” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“I know your father and mother well, my lad. You 
may present my compliments to them. But how came 
you here ? ” 

Upon this Will told him how he had overpersuaded 
his mother, and was here under my charge to see the 
fight. Washington glanced at me, to whom Will 
referred as his guardian, and said a few words of warn- 
ing as to not taking the boy where he would get under 
fire. With a few more kindly words we were dismissed 
and rode away, visiting such places as seemed to us 
favorable for observation. 

Familiarity breeds contempt, and Will was enticing 
me on from one parallel to another till we got pretty 
well up to the front in spite of the general’s caution. It 
was just about mid-forenoon when, as we were opposite 
one of the least damaged of the British earthworks, a 
drummer in his scarlet uniform coat with white patches 
on the shoulder mounted the parapet from within, dis- 
regarding the shot that whistled about him, and at the 
same instant an officer sprang up beside him, standing 
upon the parapet and waving a white handkerchief. 


YORKTOWN. 


59 


The first impression among our gunners was that a 
sortie was to be made, and word passed down the line 
to stand steady and load with grape. Not a sound 
could be heard from the drum, for the thunder of the 
American guns, but he was making his sticks fly vigor- 
ously. 

Then it dawned upon somebody what was in the 
wind. “ Cease firing,” he shouted, “ cease firing ; it’s 
a parley!” and with that the word passed along the 
line right and left, the firing died away, and French and 
American gunners mounted their carriages and sat 
openly in the embrasures, the better to see what was 
doing. 

We ran forward into the nearest battery, whence we 
could look over and see the redcoats lining their own 
parapets less than two hundred yards away. 

The British officer came toward us with the drum- 
mer still beating his sheepskin, and one of our own 
officers met him halfway between the lines, blindfolded 
him, and led to- headquarters. In half an hour it was 
known throughout the army that negotiations for sur- 
render were in progress. To the general officers who 
had the cause of independence at heart, and who under- 
stood the situation better than we did, that was prob- 
ably almost the happiest and proudest moment of their 
lives. The nameless drummer-boy who came out and 


6o 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


sounded the parley actually gave the first official sign 
that Great Britain was tired of the fight. 

My first thought was that the squire and Mistress 
Harrison must be notified, for I knew that they would 
greatly desire to behold the surrender with their own 
eyes, so I hurried away to my quarters and sent off one 
of the best mounted men with the news to Westover 
and Berkeley, and as many other places as lay in his 
way. Old soldiers may think it strange that I, a 
mounted rifleman nominally in command of a little 
squad of my mates, should have been allowed to come 
and go much as I liked, but there was at that time a 
considerable class of frontiersmen and mountaineers 
who were irregulars in a strictly military sense, but 
very regular as regards duty and honesty and sobriety. 
Of such men was Colonel Cresap’s famous battalion 
composed, which marched all the way from the Virginian 
mountains to New York, losing hardly a single man in 
all those miles till they reported with full ranks to 
General Washington. 

When I heard that negotiations for the surrender 
were in progress, I remembered that it had taken at 
least a day or two to arrange matters for Burgoyne’s 
surrender nearly three years before, so I shrewdly con- 
cluded that there would be time enough for a family 
party to drive down and witness the final ceremony. 


YORKTOWN. 


6i 


The long hours of waiting while the commissioners 
were consulting over the conditions of surrender in Mr. 
Moore’s house were not without their excitement. We 
knew that the British fleet having repaired its crippled 
ships and received reinforcements at the North might 
at any moment make its appearance in the offing, and 
enable Cornwallis to negotiate better terms of sur- 
render. Of course, lines of sentries were established 
between the two armies to keep stragglers from both 
sides out of mischief ; but the burly, well-fed redcoats 
were lying about carelessly on the crest of their earth- 
works, and our own slighter built but taller fellows were 
on theirs in their tattered blue coats and three-cornered 
hats, such as had them. 

The rank and file of both sides seemed to take 
especial delight in keeping each other well in sight 
without obscuring clouds of powder-smoke, and without 
the accompaniment of whistling bullets and a possible 
thrust of steel. 

It took all day of October the i8th to draw up the 
Fourteen Articles of Capitulation, and fair copies were 
not ready for signature till the morning of the 19th, 
by which time a goodly number of people, including 
a party from Berkeley, had driven or ridden down the 
peninsula to see what they could of what proved almost 
the concluding act of the Revolutionary War. Wash- 


62 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


ington was, however, considerate enough of the feelings 
of his conquered foes to establish lines at some distance 
back from the camp beyond which civilian spectators 
were not allowed to pass. He could not, however, very 
well deny entrance to the governor and his family, so 
our friends were permitted to occupy a house not very 
far from the scene of the surrender. 

During all these hours my young companion had 
been visibly growing older and graver. In the midst 
of all the excitement, he had maintained a dignity that 
would have been comical in one so young if it had not 
been so genuine and natural. Not an item of military 
etiquette or routine escaped his keen young eyes. He 
was in his saddle, cantering from post to post, till 
he tired his pony out ; and after that he went on 
foot, making friends with the “old Continentals in 
their ragged regimentals,” who could tell him about 
the marchings and fightings that had gone on while he, 
Will Harrison, was a baby in his nurse’s arms. 

I found him about noontime lying down in the shade, 
hidden behind his pony, and crying as if his heart 
would break. I picked him up and set him on his feet, 
but found that he was actually hysterical with weari- 
ness, and could not even tell me what was the matter ; 
so I made him eat his dinner, and then he managed to 
tell me that he was crying because he had been too 


YORKTOWN. 


63 


young to be a soldier, and now the war was over and 
he could not be one at all. I comforted him as well as 
I could by telling him that there were plenty of Indians 
for him to fight when he grew up. 

“But,” he objected, almost sobbing, “they’re not so 
good to fight as redcoats.” 

Upon which, not at all realizing what I was talking 
about, I told him that there might easily be another war 
with England before either one of us was too old to take 
part in it. This cheered him up wonderfully, and just 
then we heard the French bugles sounding the assem- 
bly, so remounted our horses, for they had become 
rested by this time, and rode down the Hampton Road, 
where the Continentals and militia were drawn up. 
Officers and men had been busy during the recent hours 
of leisure in cleaning their arms and mending their worn 
and tattered uniforms, furbishing up their accoutrements 
till every bit of metal shone like silver or gold according 
as it was made of brass or steel. Their fighting weap- 
ons were always in good order, as a matter of course. 

Washington and his aides had a keen appreciation of 
appearances, and the more shabby and unsoldierly look- 
ing troops, including most of the militia, were kept 
pretty well out of sight behind the regulars. 

Presently the French advance came swinging jauntily 
down the road, formed line, our men receiving them 


64 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


with presented arms, and there, facing each other on 
both sides of the way, standing at ease, were the two 
armies whose gallantry in a just cause had secured lib- 
erty and independence for a new continent. 

Had it not been for France we should hardly have 
won our cause at this time, though, no doubt, we should 
have achieved it in Heaven’s good time, for indepen- 
dence was surely our manifest destiny. 

Will and I secured as favorable a position as possible, 
where, sitting in our saddles, we could overlook the 
whole plain. We had not long to wait. There was a 
growl of British drums from behind the parapet, and 
presently the head of their column appeared, a solid, 
thoroughly British-looking column it was, for all the 
new clothing that was at hand in the quartermaster’s 
stores had been issued to the troops since the surrender, 
and they were as spick and span as if marching out of 
St. James Barracks in London for a review in Hyde 
Park. 

“ Guarde a vous ! ” cried the sous-ofhciers along the 
French line, and “’Tenshun! Battalion!” passed from 
left to right along our own front. 

On the one side were the bronzed veterans of Steuben, 
Lincoln, and Lafayette, on the other the jaunty, black- 
eyed infantry of Deuxponts, Soissonois, and Santonge. 
Every man squared his shoulders and stood ready, for it 


YORKTOWN. 


65 


has not been very often in the history of wars that a 
British garrison, eight thousand strong, has marched 
out and laid down its arms to a victorious foe. 

On they came by platoons, marching well in time 
with eyes straight to the front, and a very dogged, sav- 
age look on their faces, as they tramped down the road. 
Their traditional foes, the “frog-eatfng French,” watched 
them from one side, and the despised Yankee rebels, 
their late subjects, were lined up on the other. No 
wonder the British drums played a well-known old Eng- 
lish air called “The World turned up-side down.” 

It was Will Harrison who first called my attention 
to the fact that the British regimental colors were not 
flying, but were carried in their cases of glazed cloth. 
I could not account for this, for it is usual for a gar- 
rison that surrenders under honorable terms to march 
with the honors of war, drums beating and colors 
flying. 

We did not know at the time, but learned afterwards, 
that this was a piece of just retribution for an affront 
put upon General Lincoln and his garrison at the 
surrender of Charleston a year before. 

While the commissioners were in consultation at 
Mr. Moore’s house, — so the story ran, — Major Alex- 
ander Ross said, indicating the third article, “This 
is a harsh condition, which requires the regimental 


66 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


colors to be cased and drums to play either a German 
or an English air.” 

“Yes, sir, it is a harsh article,” replied Lieutenant- 
Colonel Laurens of South Carolina, the American 
commissioner. 

“Then why is it here .^ ” asked Ross. 

“Because,” said Laurens, “you imposed those very 
conditions upon us when we surrendered at Charleston 
last year after a brave defence.” 

“ But,” replied Ross, “ my Lord Cornwallis did not 
command at Charleston.” 

“Sir,” replied Laurens, “you force me to make 
another observation : “ It is not the individual that 
is here considered; it is the Nation. This article 
stands, or I cease to be a commissioner.” 

And so the article remained, and the British were 
obliged to swallow a dose of their own medicine. 

It was indeed a brave show that my little companion 
looked upon with wondering eyes that October morn- 
ing, and the sight sank deep into his youthful soul, 
more deeply than any one suspected at the time. It 
was a sad disappointment to us that Lord Cornwallis 
ordered his senior in command, the Irish general 
O’Hara, to conduct the surrender. We had hoped 
to see his lordship himself give up his sword to Wash- 
ington with our own eyes, but this was not to be. 


YORKTOWN. 


67 


Cornwallis pleading illness as the excuse for his non- 
appearance. The spectacle was sufficiently imposing, 
however, for our French allies were gorgeous in their 
dress uniforms, and our own war-worn veterans tried 
to make up for their lack of fine feathers by steadiness 
and soldierly bearing. 

It was all over before sundown. Nearly eight thou- 
sand British and German troops laid down their arms 
in a field that had been designated for the purpose 
just outside of Yorktown, and our eyes had seen it all. 

The Harrisons started for home as soon as the cere- 
monies were well over, taking Will with them. He 
would gladly have remained in camp with me, tired 
though he was in mind and body. 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE LOG COLLEGE. 

I T was not till near Christmas that I could return to 
Berkeley, and by that time, December, 1781, rumors 
of peace were wafted across the ocean. It was proba- 
bly an accident that Washington’s birthday, February 
22, 1782, was the day upon which the British House 
of Commons took its first vote, looking to a discon- 
tinuance of the war.^ 

Another odd coincidence is that on March 4, the day 
since fixed by law for the inauguration of the President 
of the United States, a resolution was passed in the 
House of Commons to this effect — “That the House 
would consider as enemies to His Majesty and The 
Country, all those who should advise or by any means 
attempt the farther prosecution of Offensive War on 

1 This motion was made by General Henry Seymour Conway, a dis- 
tinguished officer of the British army, who was at that time a member of 
Parliament, and who . throughout the war opposed the reduction of 
the colonies by force. He now gained his first parliamentary victory, and 
laid the foundation for the final recognition of American independence. 

68 


THE LOG COLLEGE. 


69 


the continent of North America for the purpose of 
reducing the revolted colonies to obedience by force.” 

It is a little curious that these dates should by 
chance have fallen so as to correspond in advance 
with one of our national holidays, and with perhaps 
the most important official ceremony that takes place 
under our present Constitution. 

It was surprising how quickly peaceful conditions 
reasserted themselves throughout the lately revolted, 
but now independent, colonies. Many terrible and 
unjustifiable acts of vengeance were wrought by ex- 
cited patriots against the Tories and Loyalists, who 
now had no British troops to protect them. Scores, 
and perhaps hundreds, perished at the hands of mobs ; 
thousands were forced to flee for their lives beyond 
the Canadian border, or to one or another of the still 
loyal British colonies ; and it is not at all to be 
wondered at that their descendants to this very day 
cherish traditions of the barbarities practised upon 
them in New York, in Pennsylvania, and in the Caro- 
linas. Of course they have forgotten, or in fact proba- 
bly never heard of the similar barbarities practised 
by the Tories against defenceless patriots during the 
long years of war. 

This reminds me of one other incident connected 
with the surrender at Yorktown, which I must needs 


70 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


relate before hastening on with my story. There was 
not among all Cornwallis’ officers a single man more 
feared and hated than Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre 
Tarleton. That he was a brave and dashing cavalry 
leader is not to be denied, but he did not hesitate to 
hang rebels, burn their houses, and destroy their prop- 
erty upon the slightest provocation. All through the 
Carolinas, and of late through Eastern Virginia, he 
had raided with his legion, and such was the fear 
inspired by him, that only the very best of the Con- 
tinental horse could be trusted to face him on any- 
thing like equal terms. Tarleton and his troopers 
were surrendered with the rest of the British army at 
Yorktown ; they had been sent across the river to 
Gloucester Point when the siege became too close for 
cavalry, and were there when the surrender occurred. 
While the negotiations were pending, Tarleton not 
unnaturally became anxious for his own personal safety 
should he fall into the hands of any Americans to whom 
the character of his campaigns in the Carolinas was 
well known. He sought an interview, therefore, with 
Monsieur de Choisy, of the French general’s staff, and 
asked that officer to become responsible for his safety. 
Choisy gave the desired assurance, but failed to leave 
any record of the reasons given by Tarleton for this 
anxiety. 


THE LOG COLLEGE. 


71 


Indeed, his fears were not altogether groundless, for 
there were scores of capital rifle-shots among our men, 
who would not have hesitated to pick off such an 
obnoxious Britisher if they could have found an op- 
portunity to draw a bead upon him, surrender or no 
surrender, for they regarded him as an outlaw, not to 
be protected by the laws of war. Tarleton, however, 
escaped with a whole skin and lived to publish an 
account of his adventures.^ 

Such was the end of the Revolutionary drama, as 
young Will Harrison saw it. I am not myself greatly 
given to reading or study, but it has always seemed to 
me that the atmosphere in which he passed the first 
seven years of his life had much to do with his after 
career. There could not be very much schooling in 
those days, but patriotism filled the very air. Soldiers 
and statesmen were frequent guests at Berkeley, — 
Lafayette, Rochambeau, Robert Morris, Peyton Ran- 
dolph, and Washington himself. Will knew them all by 
sight, long before he could either read or write. I 
greatly feared whenever the British chanced to camp in 
our vicinity that the boy’s pugnacity would get him into 
trouble ; for though the officers were, for the most part, 
civil enough to gentle-folk like the Harrisons, the rank 

1 History of the Campaigns 1780-81 in the Southern Provinces of 
North America, by Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton, London, 1787. 


72 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


and file sometimes lost their temper and would give an 
impertinent boy a sound switching upon occasion even 
if they dealt no more severely with him. Will, however, 
carried a wise head upon his young shoulders and never 
got into any serious trouble. 

The scene of the surrender at Yorktown worked a 
singular change in my young comrade, having apparently 
made a deep impression upon his thoughtful mind. He 
began asking questions about national affairs, which 
sounded very strange indeed to his seniors and quite 
puzzled me, who knew nothing more than what I had 
picked up by chance or seen with my own eyes. It 
was not long before his father secured a private tutor 
for his children, and regular school hours were observed 
so far as they could be in such a free and easy com- 
munity as that of a Virginia plantation. 

I need not dwell upon the troubled years that imme- 
diately followed the recognition of American indepen- 
dence. England was constantly ignoring or overriding 
our rights on land and sea ; France was eager to secure 
our active alliance, and embroil us again with the Eng- 
lish ; and hovering along the near-by frontier, then de- 
fined by the Ohio River and the Allegheny Mountains, 
was an awful mysterious cloud of savage warriors ready 
to swoop down at any moment upon the outlying settle- 
ments, and apparently strong and numerous enough to 


THE LOG COLLEGE. 73 

extinguish utterly the little nation that had declared 
itself along the Atlantic slope. 

The war had drawn heavily upon the frontiersmen, 
and for a time it was wellnigh impossible to check the 
savages in their raids against the settlements. It was 
with great difficulty that soldiers could be enlisted at 
all for frontier service. In the midst of all this, Will 
Harrison, at his father’s request, began to study with a 
view to a professional career of some sort. Schools and 
colleges were very few in number. Harvard had been 
fairly on its feet at Cambridge, since 1638. William 
and Mary, founded in 1692 by their majesties whose 
names it bore, was at Williamsburg; and Yale at New 
Haven (1701). These were the only establishments 
calling themselves colleges in all the land, and William 
and Mary was, at the beginning of the Revolution, the 
most prosperous and fashionable of them all, being in a 
way under royal patronage. Originally endowed by 
the crown and by the state, under Episcopalian manage- 
ment, it seemed quite in the natural order of things 
that the Harrison boys should one and all be sent there. 
But at about this time a strong dissenting movement on 
the part of the Presbyterians had set in throughout 
Virginia and the neighboring states, so for some reason 
or other it was decided that Will Harrison should go to 
Hampden-Sidney College instead. The Governor proba- 


74 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


bly found himself rather straitened in circumstances 
with his large family, and he had, moreover, been very 
liberal with his private means in helping the Govern- 
ment to carry on the struggle for independence. Partly 
for this reason, perhaps, and partly from a desire to help 
on any promising new enterprise, it was decided to send 
the boy to the young and struggling academy in Prince 
Edward County, nearly one hundred miles distant. 

It came about while Will Harrison was at his prepar- 
atory studies that the academy which had been founded 
some ten years before was suddenly, and largely, it is 
believed, through the Governor s influence, chartered as 
a college under the laws of Virginia; and when some six 
years later Master William was ready to go up for 
his entrance examination the institution had acquired 
some repute for sound religious and mental training. 

It was only a “log college,” as yet ; that is to say, it 
boasted of little more than log cabins for its buildings 
and a few rude frame structures for purposes of recita- 
tion and lecture rooms, and it was no uncommon thing 
for students to build, or have built for themselves, small 
log cabins to serve as dormitories, since the college had 
no funds to spare for the construction of such shelters. 

To go from Berkeley to Hampden-Sidney involved a 
long ride near one hundred miles, the college being in a 
comparatively wild region, where land could almost be 


THE LOG COLLEGE. 


75 


had for the asking. It was settled that I should go 
with the young candidate as a sort of a companion, for 
he was but thirteen years old, though large for his age. 
But the border was still in a very unsettled condition, 
and it was regarded as by no means impossible that war 
parties of Creeks or Cherokees might come up from 
Georgia or Alabama and push their expeditions almost 
anywhere along the Blue Ridge Mountain range. We 
took along besides a trusted negro named Tom, who 
was a skilled axeman and a good cook, though for that 
matter I myself acknowledged no superior in the arts of 
camp housekeeping. No Virginian of high social sta- 
tion thought of travelling for any considerable distance 
without a slave attendant, so Tom led a packhorse 
laden with a small leathern portmanteau and saddle- 
bags containing the few books that students then re- 
quired and such clothing and furnishings as were 
deemed necessary for outfit in a college career. Be- 
sides these there were what Will and I, obeying our 
military instincts, called “ our intrenching tools ” ; 
namely, two axes, a spade, a saw, an auger, and 
some nails. Of course we both carried rifles, and 
had pistols in our holsters. 

Thus it was that we set forth from Berkeley one 
morning in the autumn of 1786, Mistress Harrison and 
the old Governor waving a tearful farewell to us from 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


76 

the veranda. We were nearly four days on the way, for 
because of the packhorse we could not ride very fast, 
and his load had been somewhat increased by purchases 
of additional articles in the way of bedding and blankets 
as we passed through the capital city of Richmond. 

Will Harrison was rather nervous about his examina- 
tions, as I am told young fellows are to this very day, 
when they are going up to college in stage coaches, or 
even in some parts of the country in railway carriages, 
so he had a book ready to hand in one of his saddle- 
bags, wherewith to refresh his memory in preparation 
for the dreaded ordeal. 

We stopped over-night in such cabins and wayside 
hostelries as we chanced to happen upon about night- 
fall, and during our last day’s ride fell in with another 
young fellow bound on the same errand, he, too, being 
attended by an old negro slave, who was trusted to see 
him to his journey’s end. So it was quite a party of 
horse that drew rein in front of the old log row and dis- 
mounted in the edge of the college clearing. 

I remained in charge of the horses and servants while 
the two young gentlemen went to present their letters 
to the acting president, the Reverend Dr. Drury Lacy. 


CHAPTER VIL 


THE FRESHMAN CLASS AT HAMPDEN-SIDNEY. 

I F I remember rightly there were at that time from 
three to seven students in each class at the college, 
and the faculty consisted altogether of not more than 
four or five gentlemen who undertook the whole course 
of instruction. It was from such beginnings as this 
that many of our colleges have sprung, and you all 
know the position that Hampden-Sidney now holds 
among the educational institutions of the Southern 
States. 

I suppose that the learned gentlemen who conducted 
the examinations in those days did not expect appli- 
cants for admission to know very much beyond the 
rudiments of an English education. Most of those who 
applied for admission had acquired what little equip- 
ment they possessed in the way of learning from chance 
teachers, from village schools, where opportunities were 
of the slightest, or perhaps from their fathers and 
mothers who had half forgotten what they had once 
learned in Europe or in England. At all events, my 


77 


78 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


two young men came exultantly back after an absence 
of two hours or so, having successfully passed, and they 
spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in telling 
each other about the extraordinarily difficult questions 
which had been put to them by the grave and learned 
examiners. 

The freshman class of that year was unprecedent- 
edly large, having no less than ten members ; and as 
the senior dormitory had been accidentally burnt down 
during the summer vacation, there was a scarcity of 
sleeping accommodations. The burnt dormitory had 
been merely a log cabin, large enough to accommodate 
the entire graduating class of three, so its loss was not 
very severely felt in a financial sense, since the incom- 
ing seniors had only to walk into the neighboring pine 
forests with their axes or send their respective servants 
to do the work for them, and so provide a new dormi- 
tory sufficient for their needs. 

This is what they did, in fact, and after looking about 
and consulting some of the upper class students who 
appeared to be civilly inclined toward us newcomers. 
Will Harrison and I determined to do likewise. 

We might have found quarters in the rough board 
structures that had been erected for recitation and 
lecture rooms, for these were often thrown open to the 
college public and their friends during the crowded 


THE FRESHMAN CLASS AT HAMPDEN-SIDNEY. 79 

days at the beginning of a term when visitors were apt 
to be abundant, and rooms scarce for lodging purposes. 
But Will Harrison said no; a Virginian gentleman 
should have his own quarters. 

Boy-like, he and our fellow-traveller being prospective 
classmates had struck up quite an enthusiastic friend- 
ship with one another, and they agreed to make com- 
mon cause in the matter of house-building. So having 
consulted the authorities as to a site for our house, we 
went promptly to work, and before dark had built a 
hunter’s lean-to roofed with bark which might serve as 
a temporary camp till such time as the cabin could be 
finished. 

There was some confusion and delay in beginning the 
regular studies of the term, so my two young gentlemen 
lent us a hand at the building. We had to go some 
little distance into the woods to find logs suitable for 
our purpose, but we had our horses, and so were able to 
haul them out almost as rapidly as they could be notched 
and rolled into position by our axemen. The two 
negro slaves had built log cabins before, and so in a 
few days we had erected a structure some fifteen feet 
square, roofed with boards, and with the chinks between 
its logs well stopped with moss and clay, and the whole 
quite capable of standing a siege, whether of marauding 
redskins or of the elements themselves. 


8o 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


We put up four bunks against the walls ; a strong 
table and benches were made out of rough boards which 
I contrived to plane after a fashion, with my hunting- 
knife and with a well-sharpened axe. You may laugh 
at this, but it is not by any means impossible for a man 
skilled in the use of these rough implements, to make 
a not altogether bad job of smoothing down a rough 
split board, if he knows how to take it the right way. 
So our dormitory was soon ready for occupancy, with a 
chimney of small sticks built up on the outside and 
plastered with clay, and a generous fireplace within. 

By the time it was finished, my two young gentlemen 
had made friends among their fellow-students, and they 
might have had their choice out of the whole remaining 
eight of the freshman class for tenants of the spare 
bunks. It was decided, however, to keep the extra ones 
wherewith to offer hospitality, after the Virginian fashion, 
to chance visitors who might put in an appearance ; 
and indeed, so popular did the establishment become 
among visitors, that it was a question whether they 
would not have done better to arrange for permanent 
tenants. 

As soon as they were well established as comfort- 
ably as circumstances permitted, I rode back to Berke- 
ley with the horses, leaving Tom to look after his 
young master; but Berkeley was no home for me 


THE FRESHMAN CLASS AT HAMPDEN-SIDNEY. 8 1 


without Will Harrison, and so presently the spirit 
of unrest grew so strong upon me that I announced 
my intention of rejoining him at college and making 
myself useful in any way that offered. So back I 
went again to Hampden-Sidney, built a little shanty 
for myself, close to “ Harrison Hall,” as the cabin 
had been jestingly named by the other students, and 
entered upon what I have always boasted about as 
my college course, although it was a very short one. 

I think I was rather a favorite, alike with faculty 
and students, for I could turn my hand to almost 
anything, and was usually ready to ride express when 
the mail-carrier failed, as he often did, or to guide 
hunting-parties into the mountains on holidays, or do 
any of the hundred and one things that are called 
for about a college community, be it never so small. 

Of course Will Harrison had the first claim upon 
me, and I was fast becoming aware that he was out- 
growing me in many ways. His Latin and Greek 
and mathematics were of no use to me, but I read 
such books as I could understand, and some that I 
couldn’t ; and, upon the whole, I was fairly intelligent 
for one who was little better than a poor white, at 
least in any training that I had received. More and 
more, I had grown into the conviction, after some 
foolish superstition, I suppose, that my fate was some- 


82 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


how linked with Will Harrison’s, and I resolved that 
so far as I could, I would fit myself to go through 
life as near him as might be, feeling certain in my 
own mind that he was destined to be at the very 
front whatever was going on. 

Nor was I alone in this conviction as to his abili- 
ties ; for the honorable Robert Morris, one of the 
original signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
the intimate counsellor and friend of Washington, 
thought so too, and was ever urging Governor Harri- 
son to give his youngest son Will all the advantages 
possible in the way of education. Not improbably he 
might have been sent to finish his training in European 
schools but for his own sturdy declaration that America 
was good enough for him, and by her he was deter- 
mined to stand or fall. As a matter of course, we 
rode home to Berkeley for the Christmas holidays, and 
there was merry-making at all the river plantations ; 
for already signs of prosperity were beginning to make 
themselves apparent under the new conditions of inde- 
pendence, and every one had the highest hopes for 
the future. Planters were bringing more land under 
cultivation, and the demand for negro slave-labor was 
so increasing that it was no unusual thing for cargoes 
of poor, frightened wretches straight from the western 
coast of Africa to be landed at some convenient place 


THE FRESHMAN CLASS AT HAMPDEN-SIDNEY. 83 

on some of the tributaries of the Chesapeake and sold 
to the highest bidder. Many of the more humane and 
intelligent planters of that day were opposed to this 
traffic in human beings because it entailed such un- 
speakable suffering and disease during the voyage. 
Moreover, the slave population, what with direct im- 
portations from Africa, and the birth of numerous 
slave children, increased more rapidly than did the 
whites, so that there was an ever-present dread of 
servile insurrection. This dread was common not 
only among the masters who treated their slaves with 
the greatest kindness, as did Governor Harrison and 
all the planters in our vicinity, but in greater measure 
among the smaller planters and those somewhat re- 
moved from the influences of culture and civilization. 

On the other hand, the slave-traders declared with 
the utmost effrontery that the voyage from the coast 
of Africa to that of America was probably the most 
luxurious that had ever befallen within the experience 
of the poor savages who were its alleged beneficiaries, 
and they announced themselves as really missionaries 
who were successfully engaged in an organized effort 
to evangelize the African race. Of course such talk as 
this went for what it was worth among the humane 
and intelligent people of the slave-holding states, but 
it found many adherents and supporters and it laid 


84 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


the foundation eventually for Virginia’s place in the 
slave-holding section of our country. 

When we were prepared to ride back to Hampden- 
Sidney after Christmas, Will Harrison proposed that 
instead of going back by way of Richmond and the 
usual road, we should have ourselves ferried across 
with our horses to the south side of the James and 
follow the Appomattox River road. I was always glad 
to undertake anything that savored of exploration, so 
we rode for three days, following roads and trails that 
lay nearest the river, till at length we came within 
sight of the cabin that we had already learned to re- 
gard almost as home during our first term of resi- 
dence. 

I noticed during our ride that my companion seemed 
especially interested in watching the river and its 
windings, and such rapids as were visible from the 
road, while he talked with the river boatmen about 
their bateaux traffic, which extended to within the 
borders of Prince Edward County and not very far 
from the college itself. I noticed this, and even joined 
in his inquiries, but did not at all suspect his purpose 
until the term was well advanced. Calling me to 
walk with him one day, he proposed that we should 
visit a sawmill that had been established upon a 
“branch” not far from the college, and there seated 


THE FRESHMAN CLASS AT HAMPDEN-SIDNEY. 85 

upon a log he revealed his plan, which was, indeed, 
that we should go home for the summer vacation by 
water instead of by land. We often talked this matter 
over on succeeding days, but just at this time when 
we had about made up our minds to the undertaking 
there came an unexpected letter from Governor Harri- 
son, whereby it appeared that in consultation with his 
old friend Robert Morris, it had been decided to adopt 
a change in the plan of campaign as regards Will 
Harrison’s education. 

Mr. Morris, who had himself acquired but a scant 
training in school, had a correspondingly high appre- 
ciation of a college education, and as he was regularly 
appointed the guardian of Will Harrison at about this 
time, he used all his influence to have his ward placed 
under the care of teachers nearer to the regular seats 
of learning as they then existed in Eastern Virginia. 

Will read me this letter. “ See now, Linus,” said 
he, “ how beautifully that fits in with the raft plan. 
I will write home that they need not send up the 
horses, and instead of leaving our things here we will 
just load everything on board the raft and go straight 
to Harrison’s Landing without any bother, and Tom 
can ride your horse home.” 

So instead of locking up the college residence Will 
put a notice on the public bulletin board beside the 


86 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


entrance to what was called the Lyceum, to the fol- 
lowing effect : 

“To be sold at Public Auction the Elegant and 
Commodious Dormitory known as Harrison Hall. 
This edifice is comparatively new, having been re- 
cently built from designs by that distinguished archi- 
tect and civil engineer Carolinus Bassett, Esq., late 
Captain of Horse, Virginia State Troops, and con- 
structed under his immediate supervision. The build- 
ing will be sold without reserve to the highest bidder 
at eight o’clock this morning. Signed, William Henry 
Harrison, Auctioneer.” 

Pretty nearly all undergraduate Hampden-Sidney 
turned out to attend this sale. It was not very much 
of a crowd as colleges go nowadays, but it was all we 
had, and it filled the little cabin to overflowing. The 
bidding was so lively under the spirited superintend- 
ence of the auctioneer that it was finally knocked 
down to the highest bidder for nineteen shillings and 
sixpence lawful Virginia money, for the new and unfa- 
miliar currency of dollars and cents had not yet 
taken the place of the familiar pounds, shillings, and 
pence of colonial times. 

Hardly was the sale concluded, however, when Dr. 
Lacy, the acting president, accompanied by one of the 
professors, having gotten wind of the transaction, in 


THE FRESHMAN CLASS AT HAMPDEN-SIDNEY. 8/ 

the seclusion of his own home, suddenly appeared 
upon the scene and officially declared the whole busi- 
ness unlawful, since the dormitory in question, having 
been constructed on college land, reverted to the 
owners of the soil upon being vacated by its original 
occupant. 

There was no appeal from this decision, although 
purchaser and seller both tried to make a case before 
this high court of arbitration. It was of no use, so 
we were fain to make the best of it, though Will 
Harrison made an impromptu speech after the depart- 
ure of Dr. Lacy in which he declared that resistance 
to tyrants was obedience to law, and concluded in 
this fashion : “ Mark my words, gentlemen, should I 
live to realize the fondest dreams of my ambition, this 
broad continent shall be thickly populated by a free 
and independent nation, each man dwelling in his 
own log cabin as in his castle, and each one owning 
the land whereon that cabin stands, simply because it 
sets there.” 

There was a laugh and a cheer at this somewhat 
ungrammatical ending, but considering the speaker’s 
after relation to the homestead laws of the United 
States and his own famous log-cabin campaign for the 
presidency in 1840, I cannot but think as I remember 
the scene that the words were curiously prophetic. 


88 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


However, we made little of it, and even I should 
never have remembered the incident had I not fancied 
that the young orator s manner resembled that of the 
famous Patrick Henry, so I repeated the words over 
to myself, having a retentive memory, and fixed them 
in my mind that I might repeat them to the Governor 
on our return to Berkeley, for I knew that it would 
please the old gentleman to hear about the doings 
of his youngest son at college even if his career 
within its log walls was to be abruptly terminated. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


DOWN THE APPOMATTOX. 


ORK was necessarily hastened upon the raft 



▼ » after this. Logs were to be had for the cut- 
ting. There lay thousands of heavily timbered acres 
along the headwaters of the Appomattox whose owners 
would have thanked us for clearing a few square miles 
of woodland, so long as we would remove the logs 
that we cut down. Will Harrison’s plan contemplated 
only one or two score of logs, and nobody would think 
of asking payment in the Virginia hills for such a 
little trifle as that. He needed also, however, a few 
boards, for which we should have to pay something, 
since ready money was not over-abundant with the 
Harrison family just at that time, the Governor having 
drawn heavily upon his private means to provide for 
public needs. We had to exercise our business faculties 
in order to secure a suitable supply. After some dis- 
cussion and dickering with the mill-owner we struck 
a bargain, and as the result of a few days’ work found 


90 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


ourselves the owners of enough logs to construct a 
raft, and of pine boards wherewith to build a shanty. 

We had likewise to make a bargain with the local 
blacksmith for nails, which were made by hand in 
those days, and cost much more than do those that 
are now turned out by machinery for a few cents a 
pound. Part of every blacksmith’s stock in trade was 
a stack of nail rods, which he had very likely forged 
out himself from such old iron as he could lay his 
hands upon. These he cut into proper lengths and 
hammered into some sort of nail-like shape upon his 
anvil, producing articles that answered the purpose of 
nails, even if they were not very uniform in size. 

Will Harrison helped me at such hours as he could 
spare from his lessons, and by the end of the term 
we had a fine raft of forty-foot logs fastened together 
with pins and poles after the manner of river men, 
and moored in an eddy of the branch below the mill. 
Upon it, midway between the two ends, we had 
knocked together a tolerably comfortable little board 
shanty, some twelve feet long, with interior fittings 
enough for our little party of four, and a hearth made 
of clay and stone, whereon we could build a fire for 
cooking without very much danger of setting the whole 
structure aflame. The smoke was expected to find 
its way out through a large opening in the roof. 


DOWN THE APPOMATTOX. 


9 


though I am bound to admit that it did not always 
justify this expectation. 

Two of young Harrison’s college friends had been 
invited to occupy the spare bunks, of which there 
were four in all, and we might have had all the re- 
turning students who could have been crowded upon 
the raft if they could have made any excuse for going 
in our direction. Indeed, we had to draw the line 
with considerable severity to keep our numbers down 
to a reasonable figure. 

At last the president called all the students together 
in the chapel, the last tedious examinations having 
been concluded, and dismissed them for the vacation 
with a few words of counsel and benediction, which 
I am afraid made but small impression on these 
youngsters, who with few exceptions were so eager 
to begin their homeward journey. 

The Virginian roads were almost impassable for wag- 
ons in those days, and nearly all the students had either 
to walk or ride on horseback in order to reach their 
homes. With many hurrahs and handshakes and waving 
of hats the young fellows mounted and rode away, many 
of them attended by negro servants who had been sent 
with saddle horses to fetch their young masters home. 

We had arranged to have our own horses taken home 
by friends who were going that way and were glad 


92 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


enough to avail themselves of our mounts, so we five 
started on foot for the raft, each carrying such articles 
as had of necessity been left to the last. It was 
early in the afternoon when we cast off the grapevine 
mooring line, and in high spirits set our poles against 
the rocky bottom and shoved the heavy, ungainly plat- 
form of logs out to where the current caught her around 
the point, and swinging her slowly round started her 
down stream at a goodly pace. 

The mill hands came out on the crib work and gave 
us a parting yell, which we answered with a cheer, and 
swept majestically down the stream around a wooded 
bend and out of sight. 

Some three miles down stream a surprise awaited us, 
where a ford crossed the river. Just as we reached the 
shoal water and our raft pushed its forward end into 
the ripple, when we began to feel anxiously with our 
setting poles lest we should take ground in the shallows, 
there was a chorus of fierce whoops and yells from the 
woods on shore and a sudden volleyed discharge of fire- 
arms, the bullets whistling well over our heads, but 
sounding rather close for all that. 

I own frankly that my own heart gave a jump, and I 
involuntarily made a spring to seize my rifle, for it was 
not so very long since I had been engaged in earnest 
in just such affairs. But laughing demands for our 


DOWN THE APPOMATTOX. 


93 


surrender in voices more or less familiar reassured me, 
and in a moment a dozen young horsemen dashed out 
of the undergrowth and into the stream. 

We at once recognized a detachment of home-going 
Hampden-Sidney boys who had resolved thus to waylay 
us at the ford, and had ridden half a mile or so out of 
their way in order to frighten us if they could. 

They spurred their horses into the stream, which rose 
quite to their saddle girths, and some of them forced 
their steeds forward till I feared lest a sudden swerve 
of the raft might sweep them irresistibly under, beyond 
hope of rescue. But the more spirited of the horses 
took fright at the moving platform and its house of new 
boards, and rearing and snorting went plunging back 
to the shore with much splashing and merriment. One 
of them, indeed, fell with his rider in the shallow water, 
but both scrambled to their feet, and the incident only 
added to the success of the ambuscade. A ducking 
was not counted much by the travellers of that day; for 
if they did not come to grief in fording some stream 
that lay in their course, they were pretty certain to be 
soaked from head to foot by rain if their journey lasted 
many days. There were no water-proof garments then, 
and travellers had to take the wettings that heaven 
sent them and make the best of it. I do not think that 
any more colds were taken in consequence of these 


94 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


exposures than are taken nowadays when we think we 
are half killed if we get our feet wet. 

The clumsy raft rode on down stream, carried by the 
resistless current. Not all the horses and horsemen in 
Virginia could have stopped its career, slow though it 
seemed, and so the hilarious group of horsemen van- 
ished, some of them crossing the ford to continue their 
homeward journey in that direction, while others can- 
tered away up the road toward their plantation homes 
in lower Virginia or the Carolinas. 

Thus began a voyage all too short, that afforded our 
little party the most unalloyed delight. By April spring 
is well advanced in Virginia, the current of the river 
was full and strong, and the heat of summer had not 
yet dried up the springs and runlets among the moun- 
tains. So it was a brimming heavy flood of water that 
rushed down between the green banks of the stream. 
Now and then, in spite of all that we could do, some un- 
expected eddy would sweep our raft upon the shallows, 
and we would have a hard job to get her afloat again, 
especially if we chanced to take bottom upon a falling 
swell. However, we had only to wait a few hours and 
the next flood wave would come down the river and 
start us off again. Experience, too, increased our skill 
in navigation, and as the river widened and deepened, 
its current was less likely to play us unexpected tricks. 


DOWN THE APPOMATTOX. 95 

Now and then we met bateaux with their crews work- 
ing their way up stream, poling and rowing against the 
current, often with heavy loads of some kind of mer- 
chandise. Again, other crews would pass us going 
down stream, and these would generally crack numer- 
ous jokes at our expense, and exult over our slow-mov- 
ing craft, which was clumsy indeed compared with their 
light boats. At this time as many as forty or fifty of 
these bateaux were constantly employed in plying up 
and down the river to and from tide water, but so far 
as I know they rarely carried passengers, and our party 
had hardly a precedent in the river traffic of the day. 

All day long and day after day we floated lazily be- 
tween wooded banks, where the mocking-birds were 
singing their sweetest spring melodies, and orioles 
flashed through the soft green foliage. Now and then 
we landed to replenish our stores by shooting rabbits 
or squirrels, and once, by a lucky shot, as we drifted 
silently past a quiet cove, one of the young men added 
a saddle of venison to our supplies. 

The shad and herring, too, were pushing their way up 
stream in myriads to their favorite spawning grounds in 
the countless streams that found their way into the 
main river, and as we had provided a net for just this 
opportunity, we were seldom without a full supply of 
these delicious fish. 


96 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


In those days the rivers were literally alive with fish 
large and small, running up stream, and as we neared 
tide water, not infrequently enormous sturgeon would 
throw themselves into the air, coming down with a loud 
splash upon the water. This was often quite startling 
when it occurred during the night, or close at hand in a 
still reach of the river. Once, indeed, one of these large 
fish, some six or eight feet long, threw himself in a 
moment of fright or inadvertence upon the front plat- 
form of our raft, and we had a great time reducing him 
to subjection, for he thrashed about in such fashion 
that he tripped up more than one of the party, and wq 
were afraid that he would even manage to knock down 
our shanty itself. At last, however, he was quieted by 
a blow from the axe, and that night we had for supper a 
dish which is a great favorite with some of the Dutch 
residents along the Hudson River. Indeed, when we 
were campaigning in that region a few years before I 
know that we Continental troopers were very glad 
when we could get sturgeon steak to eke out the rather 
scant rations that were sometimes supplied by the 
commissary. 

I am told that the wastefulness of the inhabitants 
along the Atlantic rivers has wellnigh exterminated 
this marvellous supply of food, which, if it had been 
properly preserved and protected, might have served to 


DOWN THE APPOMATTOX. 97 

support a larger population than is ever likely to fill the 
Virginia valleys. 

At night we always tied up the raft to the bank 
or drove stakes into the bottom to keep us afloat if no 
suitable mooring-place offered. So at last on a warm 
afternoon we drifted lazily on the ebb tide, out from the 
mouth of the Appomattox, and passed from behind City 
Point to the broad bosom of the James. Looking east- 
ward down stream, we saw the chimneys of Berkeley 
among its poplars, and even caught a glimpse of the red 
brick facade of Westover, beyond. 

How peaceful and prosperous it all looked, and yet 
how short was the time since Tarleton’s troopers held 
the valley at their mercy, and Arnold’s red-coated 
infantrymen were burning and pillaging almost at will. 

We were presently discovered from the house, though 
still three or four miles distant, and soon a boat put 
off from the landing and came to meet us, pulled by 
the regular plantation crew. Guessing that Mistress 
Harrison was eager, after the fashion of mothers, to see 
her boy, and that perhaps some of the young ladies 
were passengers, we made haste to set our establish- 
ment to rights, for I grieve to say that I had been 
unable to enforce strict military neatness upon my 
young companions, and all their belongings were 
tumbled about in the bunks and on the floor in a 


98 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


* manner that was very distressing to a soldier who 
prided himself upon keeping his quarters in good con- 
dition. However, we sprang about and hustled things 
out of the way, under the bunks, and wherever we 
thought prying feminine eyes would not discover our 
untidiness. We lighted a fire, too, outside the cabin, 
and had the kettle boiling and tea made by the time 
that the boat rounded to alongside our floating home. 

As we anticipated, the passengers were indeed 
Mistress Harrison and her daughters and two nieces 
who were visiting at Berkeley. The young gentlemen 
made them comfortable in the cabin, which they found 
very barbaric in its appointments, but which they 
enjoyed all the same. With many pretty grimaces and 
wry faces they managed to drink bitter tea out of tin 
cups which had been brightly scoured with ashes and 
rinsed in river water for their especial benefit. 

Time and tide, it is said, wait for no man, and con- 
versely they make haste for no one either. It was an 
hour and a half more before we drifted down to the 
landing. Of course as soon as the negro oarsmen 
were available they had been set to work with the 
sweeps, and as they were not unaccustomed to that 
kind of navigation, the raft was handsomely laid along- 
side the bank and secured just below the wharf where 
the Tarrapin had been accustomed to make her land- 


DOWN THE APPOMATTOX. 


99 


ings. You would have thought that no one had ever 
seen a timber raft upon the James River before, so 
much curiosity was displayed over this one simply 
because it had brought down four college lads and 
their belongings almost from the foothills of the Blue 
Ridge. 

With much laughter and many feminine shrieks the 
ladies were gallantly handed ashore by the young 
collegians, and the merry party streamed off toward 
the house, followed by the negro slaves bearing their 
young masters’ luggage upon their shoulders, all for- 
getful of the poor white attendant, sometime captain 
of horse, but a “poor white” for all that. I confess 
that my heart was heavy within me after the party 
from Berkeley had boarded our raft. For I seemed 
to be in a v/ay left out, and was looked upon as some- 
thing midway between negro oarsman and the educated 
gentle-folk, who held themselves to be so far my 
betters. 

Will Harrison remembered me as soon as the first 
excitement of home-coming had worn off a little, and 
down he came on the run, shouting a Shawnee battle- 
cry, and soon had me up to the house for supper. 
Once in a while, in spite of myself, the gulf between 
me and my kind patrons weighed heavily upon me in 
those days, but Will Harrison could nearly always dis- 


100 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


pel the cloud, and when he failed I would even mount 
my horse, and taking my rifle would ride away into 
the wilds for heart’s-ease. That is a cure which I con- 
fidently recommend in all cases, but I must confess 
that there are some occasions on which even this 
cannot be trusted to effect a cure. 


CHAPTER IX. 

EXILED AGAIN — THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN. 

B y the Virginia state election of 1790, Governor 
Harrison was again called to serve in the state 
legislature, after having, as he thought, permanently 
retired to private life; but politics were becoming cor- 
rupt, bad men were working for power and plunder 
just as they do to-day, and even Washington himself 
was denounced and accused of many public misdeeds 
by people who ought to have had nobler ideas of what 
is right and honorable. Now, that there are so many 
schools and academies all over the country, I do, in- 
deed, trust that the coming generation will learn very 
many things besides reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
To my thinking it is possible to teach truth and honor 
and some little common sense as well as things that 
can be learned out of books. But no one save born 
teachers can do that. Could I have my own way, I 
would sort out from the people all those who have the 
inborn gift for teaching, and let them do nothing else, 


lOI 


102 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


and make it such a very high honor, that they would 
be glad to devote themselves to it. And, moreover, I 
would punish those who tried to teach, not having the 
gift, so severely, that they would never want to make 
the attempt again. But these are only the dreams of 
an ignorant soldier who never could do very much more 
than read and write and cipher in a rude sort of way. 

Will Harrison was fourteen years old when he was 
unexpectedly recalled from college, as I have related, 
and sent to an academy, which was in such a civilized 
region that I could not very well be with him there, and 
I soon became so discontented at Berkeley without 
him, that one day I sat down, and most laboriously 
wrote two letters, — one to Will Harrison and one to the 
Governor. To Will I said : “ I am going off to join 

the army in the northwest. When you are of age, 
come you after me, and, perhaps, we may fight redskins 
and redcoats together yet. I know that you have often 
thought of running away, but I beg that you will not 
do this until you are a few years older.” 

To the Governor, I wrote in respectful terms, that I 
had grown weary of the quiet life of Berkeley, and must 
needs away to the frontier where soldiers were sorely 
needed. I begged him to “tell good by” to all his 
family, since I could not trust myself to see them, lest 
I should be overpersuaded to give up my resolve. 


EXILED AGAIN— THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN. 103 

So then, after I had my letters written on the large 
sheets of paper that were then used, I took them in 
my hand, and, with my bridle over my arm, and my 
good horse following, I walked down the driveway 
toward the great house. 

Now, I well knew that about this time, Miss Dorothy, 
the elder of the young ladies of the family, would be 
sitting alone in the shade of the porch with her sewing 
or knitting, listening for the sound of horse hoofs com- 
ing up the Westover road. It was a habit that she had 
of doing on every pleasant afternoon, and she was 
rarely disappointed in her expectation. I had learned, 
that, as a general thing, it was just as well to keep out 
of the way at such times, though I must confess that 
I thought a great deal of a few words from Miss 
Dorothy. 

She smiled and nodded pleasantly, as was her wont, 
when Rupert and I came round the corner of the house. 
“What, Carol,” cried she, “is the spirit of unrest upon 
you again.?” For she saw from my equipments and 
from the blanket rolls that were strapped upon my 
saddle that I was all ready for a long journey. 

“Yes, Miss Dorothy,” said I, doffing my cap, “and 
I have come to tell you good by. I am off over the 
mountains to the Ohio and perhaps beyond still farther 
West. You have been very good to the poor soldier, 


104 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Miss Dorothy, and I ask you to send these letters for 
me — you may read them if you will; they are not 
sealed, you see ” (she received and laid them beside her 
with rather a frightened look in her eyes). 

Miss Dorothy,” I went on, boldly, “ I cannot ride 
away without telling you that but for an accident I 
might have been equal to the proudest in the land. 
You may ask Mistress Harrison, if you will, about my 
father’s coat-of-arms, and my family, for I fancy that 
she knows more about it than I know myself. Good 
by.” She reached down her hand over the railing of 
the portico. 

“Good by, Carol,” she said. “I suppose that there 
is no use in trying to persuade you to stay, for I hear 
that there is dreadful fighting with the Indians in the 
Northwest Territory, and something tells me that it 
would be useless to ask one of Washington’s old sol- 
diers to stay at home when he is needed on the frontier. 
I will deliver the letters, Carol ; I promise it, and I will 
never forget you.” 

That was all. I heard the sound of flying hoofs upon 
the Westover road, and I dared not meet the handsome 
young Virginian who I knew was riding fast that he 
might sit in the shady portico and watch Miss Dorothy 
with her embroidery. 

In a moment I sprang upon Rupert’s back, and as I 


EXILED AGAIN— THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN. 105 

dashed out at top speed through one gate I knew, 
though I never looked behind me, that the expected 
cavalier was cantering gayly in at the other. That was 
the last that I ever saw of Berkeley ; and though I met 
Miss Dorothy again years afterward, and she had become 
Madame Byrd then, she told me frankly that she had 
called after me to come back and had with tears en- 
treated young Harry Byrd to ride after me, but for 
some reason he would not, which perhaps was quite as 
well, for we were both hot-headed young fellows, and 
an interview just then might not have been altogether 
friendly. 

I rode westward as fast as my good horse could carry 
me, and some days later looked down upon the Ohio 
River where it joins the Muskingum and where at that 
time stood Fort Harmar, one of the most important 
American posts on what was then the frontier. 

Here, after looking about for a few days to learn what 
I could of the situation, I enlisted as a volunteer scout 
in one of the companies under General Harmar’s com- 
mand. These scouts were a picked body of men, but 
as I was well mounted, my horse took the eyes of a 
recruiting officer who knew a good animal when he saw 
him, and as I demonstrated on the spot that I was an 
excellent shot with the Kentucky rifle that I had 
brought with me, I had no difficulty in finding a place 


io6 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


in a company that as a general thing was made up of 
congenial spirits. 

I have referred occasionally during the preceding 
chapters to the Indian troubles that threatened the 
Northwest Territory immediately after the close of the 
Revolutionary War. Some attempts were made by 
way of treaties to establish friendly relations with the 
tribes in what is now Northern Ohio and along over 
toward the Wabash region, but the treaties almost all 
failed because there were no troops to back them up ; 
the settlements were few and far between, and the situ- 
ation became more and more threatening, to the great 
perplexity of Washington, who had been inaugurated as 
first president of the United States in April of the pre- 
ceding year. He advocated the establishment of a reg- 
ular army, but met with much opposition alike from his 
political opponents and from people who had a deeply 
seated dread of any such concentration of power. 

I reached Fort Harmar in the latter part of June, 
1790, when the general was preparing for his disastrous 
campaign against the Indians of the Maumee. This 
officer had a good military record, having served honor- 
ably in the Revolutionary War, and was selected for 
first commander of the regular army of the United 
States. This was in September, 1789, at which time 
the army itself was created by an act of Congress in 


EXILED AGAIN— THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN. lO/ 

spite of the opposition which has been referred to. 
When first organized it was in point of numbers no 
more than a small battalion, and was indeed designated 
as the first infantry regiment of the United States. 
With this force and with a lot of independent com- 
panies and volunteers collected largely from the restless 
elements along the frontier, General Harmar organized 
and tried to discipline a force of about one thousand 
men, very small when we consider the large numbers of 
Indians that were opposed to him and the conditions 
under which he would necessarily be obliged to under- 
take the campaign. 

To complicate matters, the British, in defiance of the 
treaty of peace ratified seven years before, had taken 
advantage of the ill-defined boundary line between 
Canada and the United States, to hold possession of 
Detroit and of a somewhat irregular line of frontier 
posts extending to the westward toward the southern 
end of Lake Michigan. This was nominally the boun- 
dary of our Northwest Territory. The British were 
probably confident in the hope that the young republic 
which had so lately thrown off its allegiance to the 
mother country would very soon fall into difficulties 
political, financial, and otherwise, from which it would 
be unable to extricate itself. In that case they natu- 
rally wished to hold advanced positions which would 


io8 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


enable them to retake the possession of their lost colo- 
nies with the least possible trouble. Pursuing the same 
policy, they cultivated the friendship of the neighboring 
savage tribes and encouraged them to trespass upon the 
settlements that were continually pushing westward 
under the lead of hardy pioneers and adventurers. 
Moreover, the fur trade was valuable, and the governor 
of Canada, Lord Dorchester, with Sir John Johnson to 
represent British interests in the disputed territory, 
made it very uncomfortable for American settlers, and 
very easy all through that region for the Indians to 
combine against their advance into the wilderness. 

Very early in the history of the republic we had rea- 
son to suspect the influence of British gold, and there 
is probably very little doubt that a good many of the 
king’s guineas found their way directly or indirectly 
into the Northwest Territory. All this resulted in a 
widespread conspiracy on the part of the Indians, aimed 
to establish their claim that the Ohio River should be 
accepted as the boundary between the territory of the 
United States and their own hunting-grounds. As 
there were already several thousand settlers living in 
daily peril of their lives in various parts of the territory 
in question, and as they had gone there under a sup. 
posed guarantee of protection from the United States, 
this demand on the part of the Indians could not be 


EXILED AGAIN— THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN. 109 

entertained for a moment. Moreover, it was perfectly 
evident to intelligent observers that the British meant 
eventually to oust the Indians and get possession them- 
selves of the disputed territory. Of course this would 
not do at all from the American standpoint. 

Accordingly General Harmar was at work, drilling and 
organizing his troops at Fort Washington, a log struct- 
ure recently built, where the great city of Cincinnati 
now stands. We stayed there all summer, making occa- 
sional scouting expeditions into the wilderness just for 
practice, and in September marched northward in force, 
and were nearly exterminated by the redskins on the 
Maumee River. When it is remembered that the tribes 
in the disaffected region could muster something like 
fifteen thousand warriors, it is not to be wondered at 
that our little force was almost annihilated, and those 
that were left of us straggled back to Fort Washington 
as best we could, making it so warm for the victors, 
however, that they did not venture to pursue us. 

While we made excuses for ourselves, this defeat, as 
may readily be imagined, greatly encouraged the Indians 
and gave occasion for open exultation on the part of the 
British. Scouting parties of Indians used not infre- 
quently to come down within sight of Fort Washington 
and utter all sorts of exasperating howls and yells 
toward us, emphasized by insulting gestures from the 


no 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


edge of the woods-; and although they never made any 
serious hostile demonstrations in our immediate vicinity, 
they showed in unmistakable ways that they held the 
white men in great contempt as fighting material. Of 
course the scattered settlers all through the wilderness 
led very uncertain and exciting lives at this time, for 
whenever it pleased them to do so, the Indians scalped 
and killed and plundered, encountering only such resis- 
tance as could be mustered in the immediate neighbor- 
hood. It is wonderful, indeed, that any of the settlers 
dared to remain in the little log cabins that they had 
hewn out of the surrounding forests, and still more 
wonderful that of those who remained, any survived. 
By dint of courage, however, and hardihood and clever 
management, stay they did to the number of several 
thousands, mainly in small hamlets and solitary cabins, 
and they even made themselves heard in Congress. 

General Harmar resigned soon after this, and Gen- 
eral Arthur St. Clair, who had for three years been 
acting as governor of the Northwest Territory, was 
appointed to command the army (March 4, 1791). 
Public opinion was divided about prosecuting the war. 
People who were safe east of the Alleghenies and along 
the seacoast were indisposed to favor the expenditure 
of money on the remote frontier, where, they held, 
people with civilized weapons ought to be able to pro- 


EXILED AGAIN— THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN. 


Ill 


tect themselves against savages armed only with bows 
and spears. Moreover, the treasury was empty ; the 
financial situation was dreadfully strained, and the 
statesmen of the time could hardly tell how money was 
to be raised to pay the necessary expenses of the Gov- 
ernment even when administered in the most economi- 
cal manner. 

In the meanwhile, however, the settlers themselves 
were, to a certain extent, taking the matter into their own 
hands, being by no means disposed to acknowledge them- 
selves beaten, even if Congress refused to afford them 
any help. In May and August two expeditions respec- 
tively under Scott and Wilkeson invaded the Wabash 
country from the southward without asking leave of Gen- 
eral St. Clair or anybody else, destroyed several large 
Indian villages, and convinced the warlike tribes of the 
border that white men could fight when driven to des- 
peration. These raids, however, had the effect on the 
one hand of exasperating the rest of the warlike red- 
skins, and of stimulating the efforts of the friends of the 
army in Congress. So at last the necessary appropri- 
ations were made, and an army of nearly two thousand 
regulars and volunteers was organized. 


CHAPTER X. 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

G eneral ST. CLAIR was an excellent officer, 
but he was unfortunately afflicted with the gout, 
and while he could administer the affairs of the garrison 
tolerably well, he found that when it came to active 
campaigning that he could not do as well as when he 
was younger and had not eaten so many good dinners. 
However, he marched northward as soon as he had his 
troops in fairly good order, established a garrison, two 
posts. Fort Hamilton and Fort Jefferson, and marched 
on toward the Wabash. I was with the advance, and 
we found ourselves on the night of November 3, 1791, 
nearly at the bank of the river which was our destina- 
tion, and nearly one hundred miles north of Fort Wash- 
ington, or rather of Cincinnati, for so it had now been 
named by General St. Clair, in honor of the military 
society of which he was one of the original members. 
By this time the general’s gout had become so bad that 
he had to be carried on a litter, and even then he 
suffered greatly from the motion. However, he pluckily 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


II3 

kept on and was with his command on the night in 
question. 

Being unable, however, personally to superintend the 
establishment of pickets and the scouting of the coun- 
try we passed through, these important duties had not 
been attended to in a way to satisfy the ideas of old 
backwoodsmen. It was, therefore, with a certain in- 
stinct which scented danger in the air that I and my 
mate arose at dawn and rode on toward the river to see 
if there was any danger lurking in that direction. We 
had not to go far, and the men in camp were just get- 
ting their breakfasts, when we nearly rode over some 
redskins lurking in the undergrowth, and barely escaped 
the arrows that they let drive at us as we galloped 
back to camp, firing our rifles and yelling at the top 
of our lungs to give the alarm. The surprise in spite 
of all we could do was almost complete ; and although 
the regulars and some of the volunteers fought gal- 
lantly, something like eight hundred men were killed 
during that and the succeeding day, and their scalps 
were no doubt taken to adorn the lodge poles of the 
victorious warriors. The rest of the little army of 
white men was completely routed, some few of the 
regulars and the best organized companies acting as 
a rear guard and holding the Indians back until the 
survivors could make good their retreat. 


H 


1 14 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

We were a very sorry lot, and it was a fearful 
march back to Cincinnati. There were something 
like one hundred women, wives of soldiers, with the 
detachment, who had very imprudently been allowed 
to accompany the army to the frontier, and they of 
course only added to the distress and danger of the 
situation. Almost all of them, however, got safely 
back to the fort, which I think is very greatly to 
the credit of the men who guarded them, since they 
hindered the march and increased the difficulties of 
the retreat. But they and all of us were glad enough 
to find ourselves once more under the palisaded walls 
of Fort Washington, where at least we could rest and 
be sure of our rations brought down by river. 

I have been obliged thus hastily to sketch the 
background of my own adventures in order to give 
some idea of the influences surrounding young Harri- 
son whom I had left at his studies, and from whom I 
had heard but two or three times since my departure 
from Berkeley ; for, as you may readily imagine, there 
were no regular means of communication in those 
days between the older settlements and the pathless 
West. Of course during all this time rumors of the 
horrors of Indian warfare had found their way to the 
settlements. They had the effect of so terrifying cer- 
tain natures that it was difficult to get recruits for 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 115 

the army, but those who were endowed with soldierly 
instincts were stimulated by a noble ambition to make 
life secure even on the frontier posts. Of course we 
in the army were very indignant at the cowardly senti- 
ments which kept back recruits from our ranks, and 
you can fancy my surprise when on my arrival, as I 
rode up to the fort, I heard myself hailed in a cheery 
voice by a tall, smooth-faced young fellow in an en- 
sign’s uniform. 

“ Now then, Carol, are you going to ride by with- 
out looking at your old playmate ? ” 

I reined in my tired horse and looked at the speaker. 
For at least half a minute it did not occur to me that 
it was in very truth my own Will Harrison, with whom 
I had played and hunted from his early childhood, and 
to whom I had given his first glimpse of soldiering 
before the earthworks at Yorktown. I quite forgot, 
in my wretched state of weariness and dismay, to lift 
my hand to my cap in salute. Yet it was he, sure 
enough, and very smart and gallant he looked in his 
blue coat and brass buttons with the collar turned 
back as officers wore them in those days. 

Of course I was ragged to the last degree, and more- 
over, both I and my horse had been hurt more or less 
by Indian spear thrusts and arrow wounds. How- 
ever, Will Harrison had me into his quarters in short 


Il6 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

order, and it was not long before I was washed and 
dressed and lying luxuriously in a bunk with a change 
of clothing and clean blankets under me. 

Ensign Harrison had been at the post for only a few 
days, having travelled overland from Philadelphia, and 
met the news of St. Clair’s defeat only after he had 
passed beyond the mountains. That was rather a 
gloomy reception for a young soldier full of courage and 
ambition. However, his was one of those natures that 
having once resolved to do a thing is simply stimulated 
to higher effort by occurrences that discourage weaker 
characters. He had taken hold of his new duties so 
vigorously and intelligently that he had won the con- 
fidence of the officer left behind in command of the 
garrison while the main army was at the front, and now 
he had his hands full in attending to the wants of the 
broken and destitute relics of St. Clair’s ill-fated detach- 
ment, which now for several days past had been strag- 
gling in from the northern wilderness. 

He found time, however, to give me a cheery wel- 
come, but promptly left me in charge of his servant — ■ 
it was old Tom, the same who had gone with us to 
college, and who had insisted, in spite of his gray 
woolly topknot, upon accompanying young Master 
William to the wars. The faithful old slave was over- 
joyed at seeing me alive, and save for some insignificant 


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A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 1 1 J 

scratches as well as ever. He brought me a generous 
repast of hot yellow corn bread and fried bacon, the like 
of which I had not seen for many a day, and after eat- 
ing which to an enormous extent I naturally fell asleep, 
though it was early in the forenoon and did not waken 
again until far into the night. I was aroused at last 
shortly after midnight by the young ensign returning 
to his quarters from a special tour of outpost duty upon 
which he had been detailed. We lighted a fire on the 
hearth and made a cup of tea, he not feeling inclined to 
sleep yet, and I having had enough of it for the time 
being. So I began forthwith to ask him about affairs 
in Virginia, and how had he managed in spite of the 
opposition of his father and so many of his influential 
friends to get into the army. But he would answer 
none of my questions till I had given him the story of 
my own personal experiences during the disastrous 
campaign that had just ended. 

He listened eagerly and sadly, and when I had ended 
his only comment was, “Well, Carol, I suppose it is 
not for a young ensign like me, just reported for duty, 
to criticise veterans of the Revolution, but I’ve learned 
something from your story that is not in any of the 
books on the art of war, so far as I have read them. 
You and I, Carol, have our work cut out for us; this 
rabble that has just come out of the woods has got to 


Il8 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

be made over again into an army, and you and I have 
got to do our part, or else in a few years we shall see 
the British flag flying here on Fort Washington, and 
the Ohio River will be the boundary between the 
United States and Canada. Now, to begin with, let us 
promise each other right here that we will let liquor 
alone and persuade as many others of our fellow-soldiers 
as we can to do likewise.” 

So we two stood up in the little log-built officers’ 
quarters that he occupied and shook hands on it ; 
and it turned out very well that we did so, for there 
set in from that time a dreadful period of intemperance 
among the vanquished and disorganized soldiers that 
had at last to be put down with the strong hand of 
authority. I think that agreement of ours was per- 
haps the beginning of the first temperance society 
that was founded in the Northwest Territory ; at any 
rate, it saved a lot of young fellows from going to the 
bad at a killing pace, and although there were no 
records kept of its organization or of what it accom- 
plished, I am well assured that Ensign Harrison should 
have a large credit mark if any records are kept on 
high concerning the work of temperance pioneers. I 
say all this, too, fully recognizing that some of those 
who took part in the presidential campaign of 1840 
will laugh my assertions to scorn, but the abominable 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. II9 

excesses of that campaign were due not to President 
Harrison’s personal influence, but rather to the mis- 
directed zeal of some of his followers. 

We were just beginning to get sleepy after our tea 
and our talk, when a distant shot rang out on the 
still night. Then two or three more, followed by a 
long-drawn war-whoop, and then the drum beat the 
alarm at the guard-house. 

Ensign Harrison buckled on his sword and was off 
to his company in a few seconds, but it was several 
minutes before I could get my equipments together. 
I was sufficiently rested now to feel a natural impulse 
to take a hand if there was any fighting to be done; 
so I got into such clothes as I could lay my hands 
upon, hunted up rifle, powder-horn, and bullet-pouch, 
and looked to the priming as I ran down into 
the parade ground, reaching the sally-port just in time 
to slip through with the last files of Harrison’s com- 
pany. In a moment I ran forward, joining him at the 
head of the detachment, for the captain was not pres- 
ent for duty for some reason, so the young and inex- 
perienced ensign had to take charge in his place. 

He had been ordered out to reinforce the outposts, 
which had been stealthily attacked and driven in toward 
the fort by a party of Indians which had followed St. 
Clair’s rear guard almost to the edge of the timber. 


120 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Outside the fort there was a deal of confusion ; for there 
had sprung up a little hamlet of wretched hovels, occu- 
pied mainly by camp-followers and the disorderly 
element that collected around the fort ever since it 
had been erected and occupied by a garrison. These 
people turned out in all sorts of dress and undress, 
wildly clamoring for admission to the safe protection 
of the fort ; but the officer of the guard was obdurate, 
well knowing that it was easier to keep them outside 
than it was to get them out after they were once in. 
He knew also that in all probability the Indians would 
not venture very near the fort, and there would be 
time enough to save most of these worthless lives even 
if the attack were pressed to close quarters. 

Through all this ruck Harrison led his company in 
good shape, and their steady tramp, with muskets 
sloped on the right shoulder and a semblance of orderly 
control, went far to restore confidence. Over toward 
the edge of the woods muskets were flashing and men 
shouting, and presently, as we advanced toward the 
scene of action, we began to hear spent bullets hum- 
ming past our ears, which showed that there was 
really somebody to fight, who was firing in our 
direction. , 

“ Carol,” said the ensign to me, “ run forward and see 
where our men are. Tell the officer in command that I 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


21 


will deploy along the old stump fence here and hold it 
for him to fall back upon.” 

By the time I reached the advance line there was no 
chance to deliver this message, for the officer in com- 
mand had been tomahawked at the first attack. There 
was only a sergeant in command, and the fifteen or 
twenty men who remained in fighting trim were falling 
back as fast as they could, without abandoning their 
skirmish formation and running for shelter in disorder. 

So when I found out what was the state of things, I 
sung out so that all could hear, that the stump fence 
was well manned, and so in a few minutes we were all 
lined up behind it with pieces reloaded, and waiting in 
dead silence, for Harrison had ordered us to cease firing 
until we could learn something of the enemy’s force. 
The Indians had apparently stopped to reconnoitre, for 
their firing ceased also, except for an occasional arrow 
sent at random, and Harrison took advantage of the 
pause to strengthen his flanks by rolling a few of the 
stumps out of the general line and sent word back to 
the fort where he was, that he would hold the posi- 
tion until relieved. 

It did my heart good to see the young fellow take to 
his chosen profession so kindly, keeping his men well in 
hand, walking up and down behind them as they stood 
by the stumps, and perfectly cool amidst the unavoid- 


122 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


able confusion of a night skirmish. He acted, in short, 
as if he had been used to it all his life long, and, old 
soldier as I was, I could not but feel that he had done 
right in choosing the army as his profession. 

By this time our eyes had recovered from the blind- 
ing effects of the musketry fire, and some of the keener- 
sighted among the men made out Indians slinking 
along, with their peculiar half-crouching gait, toward 
the flanks of our position. To this end they had sep- 
arated into two parties, having evidently reconnoitred 
the ground and guessed at our weak point. As they 
were easily within range, Harrison ordered a volley, 
cautioning his men to aim low, and when the smoke 
cleared away there were no Indians to be seen, though 
distant yells were heard till daylight appeared. 

The weight of our volley had told them that the 
little squad which had been keeping them in check had 
been largely reenforced, and they had retired precipi- 
tately, not feeling equal to encountering the strong 
resistance that was evidently prepared for them. 

Such was Harrison’s first skirmish. It was but a 
small affair, but I was proud to see how well he 
carried himself. An orderly presently appeared, di- 
recting us to withdraw to the fort as soon as it was 
light enough to bring in the dead and wounded, so we 
waited until the dawn was far enough advanced for us 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


123 


to go down toward the edge of the woods without fall- 
ing into any unsuspected trap. There were half a 
dozen of our own men killed or wounded, including 
Lieutenant Wesson, who had been hit in the head by 
a tomahawk as before described ; he had been brought 
off the field by his men, who had gallantly rescued him, 
else he would never have lived to tell the tale. The 
Indians, whom we had discovered by the character of 
their war-whoop to be Miamis and Hurons, left only 
two of their dead behind them, and these they had 
probably overlooked in the darkness. The rest of 
their dead and wounded, if any, and there must have 
been a considerable number, they had carried off, as is 
their universal custom when possible. 


CHAPTER XL 


DOCTOR versus soldier. 

E nsign HARRISON made his report verbally to 
General St. Clair, who was somewhat recovered 
from his gout after the shaking up he had endured 
while riding a packhorse during his hasty flight before 
the victorious savages of the north. The old general 
commended his subaltern for having acted with good 
judgment and discretion, and although the commenda- 
tion came from a defeated and broken-hearted man, 
we knew that he was, nevertheless, a good soldier, and 
praise from him was not to be held in light esteem. 

During the day following this skirmish I managed 
to get Mr. Harrison to tell me something of how he 
had passed the four years since I saw him. I will try 
to tell the story as nearly as I can in his own words. 

“Why,” said he, “there is not much to tell. The 
Governor, as you know, was backed up by Mr. Robert 
Morris and my cousin, Peyton Randolph, and I know 
not how many more of our Virginian grandees, none 
of whom would hear of my being a soldier, so I 
said to myself that it was of no use to organize a 


124 


DOCTOR VERSUS SOLDIER. 


125 


rebellion against their authority, and I had best learn 
all I could about everything else while waiting for 
something to turn up. But I did not forget what I 
was waiting for, and I had many an opportunity to 
talk with Colonel Bassett and General Lee and even 
with Washington himself about my ambition. They 
were all very kind and encouraging, but at the same 
time they told me, just as you did, that I had best 
follow out the wishes of my parents at least until I 
came of age. 

“ So at it I went, and studied with a view of becoming 
a doctor of medicine, or a surgeon, or something of 
that sort, but you may be sure that I did not limit 
my reading altogether to that line of investigation. I 
think you would be surprised, Carol,' if you could see 
what a stack of books I have read about war and 
history, and military campaigns, and all that sort of 
thing. I don’t remember as much about it as I wish 
I did, but I suspect that is the way with everybody 
that attempts to study a large subject. Anyhow, I 
kept it up for near four years, and last winter it was 
arranged that I should go to Philadelphia to finish my 
medical studies under Dr. Benjamin Rush, who, you 
know, is a very famous man and an old crony of my 
father’s, having with him signed the Declaration of 
Independence, and afterwards served as surgeon-gen- 


126 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


eral to the army, I suppose that you never heard of 
the medical school that he has started in Philadelphia. 
No ? Well, he has started one, and if it were not 
for this Indian trouble, and other possible things that 
I would rather take a hand in, I think I would like to 
stay with him, for he is a very fine old gentleman. ^ 

“ Well, when spring came I sailed away on the old 
Tarrapin^ and took stage from Baltimore, but on the 
way there came an express rider who overtook us and 
handed me a black-bordered letter telling of the dear 
old Governor’s death. He had just been reelected to 
the House of Burgesses, and so died almost with his 
harness on.” 

This was the first that I had heard of Squire Harri- 
son’s death, which had in fact occurred some months 
previously, and I must needs learn more about it. In 
the course of the questioning it came out that Miss 
Dorothy and Harry Byrd had married less than six 
months after my departure. For some reason the en- 
sign glanced searchingly at me as he let fall this bit of 
information, for what reason I am sure I cannot say, 
but my own eyes somehow would not meet his at the 
moment, and he went on with his story. 

“ It was of no use to turn back. My mother, indeed, 

^ From this school grew the great medical colleges of Philadelphia, 
which are among the most successful and important of any in the land. 


DOCTOR VERSUS SOLDIER. 


127 


ever thoughtful of my welfare, even in the bitterness of 
her distress at the Governor’s death, wrote me in this 
same letter to continue my journey. So on I went to 
Philadelphia and was most cordially received by Dr. 
Rush, who lost no time in having me meet Dr. Shippen 
and Dr. Wister, who stood at the very head of their 
profession at that time. Had it not been for other 
influences, I suppose I should have yielded to the at- 
tractions of a professional life, for I can tell you, Carol, 
it is not without its attractions, and during those weeks 
in Philadelphia I suppose that I saw it under its very 
brightest aspects. But outside of the medical circles 
the air was full of Harmar’s defeat, and of the desperate 
state of things along the border, including the western 
section of Pennsylvania itself and away down to the 
Ohio River. 

“ The people were talking about how St. Clair would 
presently teach the redskins a lesson that they would 
not soon forget, and there was a great deal of unseemly 
bragging about what short work our fellows would 
make with the Indians when they were once fairly in 
front of them, and with an able general in command. 
I suppose that they have not even yet heard how vain 
were their hopes, and how badly the little army of 
which they were so proud had been whipped. 

“Well, the soldier and the doctor had it back and 


128 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


forth within me, and the soldier generally had the best 
of it, but could not quite drive the doctor to the 
point of unconditional surrender. It was a chance, the 
merest chance, that I did not run away in the night and 
enlist as a private in order to save the trouble of over- 
coming the objections of my friends ; but just as I was 
hanging in the balance, as it were, whom should I meet 
on Chestnut Street one day but old General Harry Lee, 
— ‘Light Horse Harry’ of Lee’s famous legion, — and 
he had me in to dine with him at the Penn Tavern, where 
he was staying. He naturally fell to talking over war 
reminiscences, and almost before I knew it I had told 
him of my own wishes in regard to the service. 

“ Of course Light Horse Harry was in sympathy with 
me on the instant, and agreed to ask the War Depart- 
ment for a commission without waiting to consult my 
lawful guardian, Mr. Morris. The old cavalryman, 
indeed, was never conspicuous for observing the letter 
of any regulations or orders which interfered with his 
own personal judgment, and his judgment was gener- 
ally right, unlike that of his cousin. General Charles 
Lee, who made himself rather unpleasantly conspicuous 
in the famous interview that he had with Washington 
on the battle-field of Monmouth. 

“Accordingly it is not very surprising that the general 
failed to keep my secret, and I presume that he let my 


DOCTOR VERSUS SOLDIER. 


129 


Story leak out to some of his army cronies ; at all events, 
I received a message next day from Mr. Robert Morris, 
and suspecting that he had wind of my plans I posted 
off to the war office, where I was lucky enough to catch 
General Knox,^ to whom Lee had been talking. 

“ There was a stack of blank commissions on his 
desk, already signed by the President, so there was 
nothing to be done but to order a clerk to fill in my 
name. I thanked him, signed the necessary papers, 
put the commission into my pocket, and walked out of 
the modest quarters then occupied by the War Depart- 
ment — an ensign in the first and only regiment of 
United States infantry, lacking only my uniform and 
equipments. 

“ Then I went down to Mr. Morris’s counting- 
room as bold as brass. Of course he told me very 
seriously that being only eighteen years old and law- 
fully under his care he could easily have the commission 
cancelled, but I told him that I was fully resolved to be 
a soldier, and that he might as well let me go now as to 
make me wait until I was of age, for go I certainly 
would, sooner or later. 

1 General Henry Knox was chief of artillery under Washington during 
the Revolutionary War, and was one of the originators and founders 
of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was Secretary of War during 
Washington’s administration. 


I 


130 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


‘‘Well, the long and short of it was that he finally 
agreed not to make any trouble about it ; so here I am, 
Carol, and I feel that I have made no mistake. We’ve 
been under fire together now, and I know for sure that 
I don’t lose my head when powder is burning. This 
defeat of the old gentleman’s is a bad business, b-ut you 
and I will make it up, won’t we, Carol ? ” 

I was older than he as to years, and this enthusiastic 
outburst seemed very boyish to me, but, on the other 
hand, he was older than I in all that went to make 
promotion possible in the army, and success probable 
in civil life. So I may say that in a sense we were 
about of an age, with the advantage on his side for 
leaving me far behind as the years went on. I did 
not at all mind this out here at the front, where social 
distinctions were not of so much account as among 
the exclusive families of Virginia. 

The war-whoops of Miamis and Hurons were heard 
occasionally about the outposts for a few days, but 
finally they took themselves off, for we scouts made 
a study of the case, and regularly hunted them as we 
hunted deer ; seldom a day passed that we did not 
pick off one or more of the redskins with our long 
rifles, which were far more effective than were the 
weapons furnished to the Indians by their friends the 
British. 


DOCTOR VERSUS SOLDIER. 


131 

Coming back from a final reconnoissance, whereby 
we learned that the Indians had departed at least 
farther than we cared to follow them, I found Ensign 
Harrison in his quarters, overhauling his field outfit, 
and manifestly in a state of considerable excitement. 

“ Hurrah, Carol ! ” cried he, as soon as he saw me, 
“ I am detailed to command the guard for a pack- 
train to Fort Hamilton ; I’m to have twenty of my 
own men, and you can go along, too, if you like. Won’t 
that be fun } ” 

Of course I expressed my readiness to go, and the 
rest of the day was passed in seeing that the men 
were properly equipped for the march, with cartridge- 
boxes filled, spare flints in their pouches, and powder 
in their little priming-flasks. Muskets were cleaned 
from muzzle to priming-pan, and, most important of 
all, everybody must, as far as possible, be kept in 
good health and spirits. Will Harrison was particularly 
efficient in this last particular, for he had a great flow 
of animal spirits, and had the faculty of imparting his 
own enthusiasm to those about him. 

It is hardly possible at this time, when there is a 
well-organized regular army, to make people under- 
stand what a horror and fear of Indians lay upon all 
men. It was only the very boldest and most ad- 
venturous spirits that rose superior to it. This may 


132 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


seem strange in view of the recent termination of 
a war in which thousands of men proved themselves 
perfectly capable of facing the best troops in the world 
on anything like equal terms. That kind of warfare, 
however, was very different from confronting largely 
superior numbers of savage foes in the depths of an 
unexplored wilderness, whence escape in case of defeat 
was almost impossible, and where prisoners were tort- 
ured to death with unheard-of ingenuity. 

There was no overwhelming anxiety, therefore, on 
the part of our enlisted men to volunteer for this 
expedition, and Will Harrison was wise enough not to 
give them a choice one way or the other. He was, 
as I have said, practically in command of the company, 
the lieutenant being absent on leave, and the captain 
on detached service. So he just turned out the whole 
company for inspection in light marching order, and 
made them a little speech about the service for which 
they were required. There were about sixty men for 
duty, and he kept them busy till retreat, getting them- 
selves in perfect order for a start by daylight next 
morning. 

Several of them tried to desert that night, being panic- 
stricken at the idea of marching into the wilderness 
again, but this had been anticipated, and they were 
quietly arrested by the guard and returned to their 


DOCTOR VERSUS SOLDIER. 


133 


quarters. The whole company had been ordered to 
turn out at reveille ready for the march, and after 

t 

roll-call the ensign selected twenty men, beginning 
with those who attempted to desert the preceding 
night, and ending with the best and most trustworthy 
non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the com- 
pany. Telling these men to step to the front and 
close up, the ensign ordered the remainder of the 
company back to their quarters, saying that their ser- 
vices would not be needed this time, and such is the 
contrariness of human nature that, having had the 
trouble of getting ready, nearly half the men were 
now willing to volunteer to accompany the expedition. 
Harrison allowed some exchanges to be made, not 
including, however, any of the would-be deserters, 
and then we were ready for the march. 

The quartermaster and commissary had attended to 
their parts of the expedition, and the long train of 
heavily laden packhorses with their attendant drivers 
were ready to start. The only paths through the 
forest in those days were narrow trails impossible for 
wagons, so that army stores going to frontier posts 
in the interior had to be made up into huge packs 
which were lashed upon the backs of horses and 
mules and so carried necessarily by short stages to 
their destination. The average for a packhorse is 


134 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


only five hundred or six hundred pounds, and as no 
animal can be expected to carry such a load upon his 
back from sunrise to sunset, occasional halts are nec- 
essary, when the burdens must be removed and the 
animals given a chance to drink, roll on the ground, 
and otherwise refresh themselves. This removing and 
reloading the packs necessitates quite a large retinue 
of attendants who must be skilled in the art of tying 
knots and adjusting and readjusting surcingles so that 
the clumsy load shall not be able to turn a summer- 
sault and land itself under the legs of the horse. 

It was therefore quite a little army of men, armed 
and unarmed, and quite a long cavalcade of horses 
that wound off in single file into the dark forest that 
then crowned the hills to the north and west of what 
is now the queen city of Ohio. 


CHAPTER XIL 


AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND. 

B esides the twenty infantrymen of the escort, we 
had with us a few mounted scouts, like myself, 
whose duty it was to serve as the eyes and ears of the 
little detachment, riding on ahead when passing through 
timber, — which was pretty nearly all the time, — and 
searching the woods on either side of the trail for 
Indian “sign.” The first day’s march was trying to 
our patience, for the horses were ever getting entangled 
with trees and with one another, and there had to be 
frequent halts for the readjustment of packs and the 
like, so that by noon we bad only gone some five or six 
miles, and were glad enough to stop for dinner and an 
hour’s rest. 

In a few minutes knapsacks were unslung, packs 
removed from horses and piled in a quadrangle, forming 
a little fort, within which the cooks lighted their fires, 
and near which all hands were ordered to remain. 
Leaving the senior sergeant in charge, Mr. Harrison 
bade me ride with him, and together we made the cir- 


135 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


136 

cuit of the bivouac at long rifle range, finding nothing 
of a suspicious nature, though there were not lacking 
certain grewsome reminders of the late disastrous re- 
treat of our troops. Our resting-place was in an open 
growth of heavy timber, and a single vidette was deemed 
sufficient to guard against surprise. We were all keenly 
on the alert, however, and it was quite impossible for any 
hostile force to come within striking distance from any 
direction without being discovered. 

After a two hours’ rest, the order was given to load 
up, and the afternoon march was effected in rather bet- 
ter order than that of the forenoon had been. At 
about three o’clock, one of the scouts rode up to the 
head of the column and reported to Mr. Harrison that 
he had found indications, a short distance on our left, 
that a small war-party of Indians was following the 
range of hills west of and parallel to our line of march. 
This was to be expected as a matter of course, and we 
went our way, Harrison merely telling his scouts to 
keep a sharp watch, and give us ample warning, while 
he, himself, rode back to see that the pack-train was 
well closed up and the escort warned that there were 
Indians about. 

The march was quickened a bit, too, in order that we 
might reach our intended camping-place as long as pos- 
sible before darkness fell. The Indians had, no doubt. 


AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND. 


137 


guessed where we intended camping, for there were 
well-known and favorite places along this trail where 
wood, water, and pasturage were to be found, and where 
the lay of the land was favorable for defence. So 
favorable, indeed, for all our needs, was this first camp- 
ing-ground, that by the advice of his guides, Harrison, 
who had never been over the trail before, determined 
to reach it even if the distance could not be wholly 
covered before dark. The drivers, therefore, urged 
their animals along, and the men stepped out so that 
the three or four remaining miles were covered in bet- 
ter time than had been made during the earlier hours of 
the day’s march. 

Hasten as we would, however, the forest began to 
darken around us as the sun sank toward the tree-tops, 
and a certain seriousness settled down upon the little 
command as it pushed steadily forward. The two 
scouts who were in the advance were riding side by 
side, when we saw them suddenly separate and dash for- 
ward at a smart canter, diverging somewhat, with the 
evident purpose of seeing whether any danger lurked 
along the crest of a ridge ahead of us and a little to one 
side, that was somewhat thick with underbrush. The 
scouts circled near it without drawing fire or discover- 
ing any signs of a hidden foe, and one of them even 
rode in among the bushes in order to gain a better post 


138 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


of observation, but not a feather or a dab of war-paint 
was to be seen. 

Mr. Harrison was not satisfied, being, as he after- 
ward told me, very strongly impressed with the belief 
that a little way back he had “ smelt Injun,” a frontier 
expression that is not without a foundation of literal 
truth. At all events, he directed the head of the col- 
umn to push on along the trail, while he dismounted, 
and giving me his horse to lead, called ten men of the 
escort to follow him. The men opened out into an 
irregular skirmish line, Harrison keeping near the cen- 
tre, and soon reached the edge of the bushes, when one 
of the men who had attempted to desert the night 
before set his foot squarely upon the back of a big half- 
naked Huron warrior, who arose with a yell, overthrow- 
ing the astonished and terrified soldier, whose musket 
was discharged as he went down. 

Instantly the war-whoop rang along the hill-crest, 
but the light was brighter just here, for the level rays 
of the setting sun found an opening through the tree 
trunks across the valley, and the shadowy forms of the 
savages could be seen taking to cover, our fellows pop- 
ping at them as occasion offered. It was all over in 
less than five minutes, and the savages vanished like a 
covey of young partridges in the forest which was 
their birthplace and home. 


AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND. 


139 


The Indians apparently had not intended to attack 
us unless, perhaps, an unexpectedly favorable opportu- 
nity offered, and so had effectually concealed themselves 
where they could take advantage of an accident. The 
accident came when the heavy foot of Bob Morss, the 
would-be deserter, came down upon the Huron’s spine, 
and he, thinking no doubt that the act was intentional, 
sprang to his feet and attempted to brain his fallen and 
helpless foe. 

It was fortunate for Bob that Harrison was only a 
few paces distant, for his big dragoon pistol rang out 
on the instant, and the Huron warrior rolled over, badly 
hurt, while his fellow-savages flitted away through the 
woods followed for a little distance by our men, who 
might as well have tried to overtake a pack of fleet- 
footed wolves as to catch these children of the great 
central woodland. Harrison shouted the recall before 
his men were out of ear-shot, and they started to rejoin 
the column. Not more than half the distance had 
been covered before the head of the little column was 
brought to a stand by Private Bob Morss, who, with his 
musket poised ready in his hand, stood guard over the 
prostrate body of the Huron. 

‘‘See the varmint that I knocked over, leftenant,” 
said he, with honest pride, pointing to the dusky war- 
rior, who lay face down among the bushes, doubtless 


40 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


expecting a bayonet between his shoulders at any 
moment. 

“Well done, Morss ! ” replied the ensign, taking in 
the situation on the instant, and checking the men near 
him, who would have guyed the fellow unmercifully. 
“Well done. You see it isn’t so much of an affair to 
kill an Indian after all, when you keep your wits about 
you. Turn him over, sergeant, and see if he’s dead ” 
— this to a “non-com” who stood looking down at the 
long-limbed savage. 

Grasping him roughly by the shoulder, the sergeant 
obeyed, heaving the limp form over upon its back, 
when, like a flash, the limbs stiffened, the ready toma- 
hawk whistled past Harrison’s ear, making him dodge 
instinctively, and the dying brave defiantly uttered his 
last war-whoop and would have done some damage with 
his scalping-knife, had not Bob Morss driven his bay- 
onet through him — a fatal wound. 

Harrison looked on half sadly, for he would fain have 
made a prisoner of the Indian in the hope that some 
good might come of it. However, there was naught to 
be said, for the savage had practically defied us and 
chosen death rather than surrender. 

We took his arms and ornaments and hastened on 
after the column, for we had no time to waste over a 
dead Indian, and we knew, besides, for a certainty, that 


AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND. 141 

his friends would come back and find his body as soon 
as we were out of the way. One of the scouts, an old 
Indian fighter, stayed behind for a moment to perform 
a seemingly brutal but really necessary act in cutting 
off the fallen savage’s scalp-lock. If this were found 
intact, the warriors would look upon their comrade’s fall 
as a triumph, and would speed his spirit to the happy 
hunting-grounds ; but if his scalp-lock were gone, then 
his future state of happiness was by no means assured, 
according to their system of theology. 

Thus early did it become the custom amongst 
frontier fighters to scalp their fallen foes as a justi- 
fiable war measure. It was well known that a certain 
superstitious dread attached to the loss of the scalp, 
and was clothed with untold terrors in the eyes of 
the red man. The custom seems indeed very bar- 
barous, for it had been handed down to the soldiers 
of our present army ; but when I reflect upon the 
unspeakably horrible mutilations and cruelties that are 
resorted to by the Indians themselves when they 
take white prisoners, especially women, I cannot find 
it in my heart very much to blame our frontiersmen 
for taking the only revenge that offers. 

The prompt action of Morss in bayoneting the still 
fierce though wounded warrior went far to restore his 
standing among his fellow-soldiers, and by common 


142 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


consent they suffered him to cherish the belief that 
it was by his hand that the Indian had received his 
first wound. 

In single file, and with quickened pace, the little 
command now pressed forward after the pack-train, 
and Harrison, remounting his horse, cantered forward 
to the head of the column, which reached the intended 
camping-ground just after sunset. Only a few minutes 
of daylight remained wherein to make good our de- 
fences for the night. We were as nearly as might be 
right in the middle of what was then known on the 
Northwestern frontier as the “ Miami Slaughter 
House,” so many had been the Indian raids and 
massacres within its borders. 

It chanced that a huge tree had recently fallen, its 
trunk lying nearly across the crest of the gentle emi- 
nence. Harrison, quick to take advantage of Nature’s 
aid, promptly set half a dozen skilled axemen at work 
to fell other trees so that their trunks should fall 
across each other, forming a rude redoubt, within 
which all hands could bivouac for the night in com- 
parative security. 

The pack-animals were relieved of their loads and 
watered after a short breathing space, but night had fallen 
pitch dark before the little garrison was all “ to rights.” 
There was no object in concealment, since the Indians 


AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND. 1 43 

knew very well where we were ; so as fuel was abun- 
dant, and could be had for the carrying, everybody 
who wanted a camp-fire had one, and during the supper 
hour the crest of the bluff presented quite a festive 
appearance, and after the men had eaten their rations, 
animal spirits began to return, and songs and laughter- 
rang through the gloomy forest. 

All lights were ordered out, however, at an early 
hour, and with videttes posted and a detail for stable 
guard, every man who was off duty lay down on the 
ground and went to sleep. The chief danger to be 
apprehended was an attempt to stampede the horses, 
but apparently our prowling foes were not strong 
enough, or saw that we were too well prepared. At all 
events, they permitted us to pass a quiet night, though 
the scouts and our young commander took but little rest. 

This first night out was indeed very trying to all, but 
especially to our young ensign. November was near 
half gone. Ice formed nightly along the edges of the 
streams, and flurries of snow were not infrequent. 
Camping without tents, under such conditions, is not 
like sleeping out of doors for fun in the summer-time, 
and for the young Virginian, accustomed to every luxury 
of the time, and with a constitution by no means 
robust, the experience called for a high degree of 
resolution and endurance. 


144 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


I and one of the other scouts, foreseeing a comfort- 
less night, digged a pit and had a good bed of coals at 
the bottom of it, before fires were ordered out, so that 
we and Mr. Harrison had a warm corner to ourselves, 
that gave out no visible light and was a great comfort 
to us all. 

I have spoken of the region where we were camped 
as the “Miami Slaughter House.” It was, in fact, a 
part of the great “Symmes purchase,” which, since 
Ensign Harrison became in a way its part owner, de- 
serves a word of description. Only five years before 
the time of which I am telling, a war-party of northern 
Indians ran off some horses from Fort Washington 
(now Cincinnati) and were pursued by a party of Ken- 
tuckians. A certain trader from New Jersey, Benjamin 
Stites by name, had volunteered to go with them, and 
apparently he was the first white man who had sense 
enough to see the natural advantages of the country. 
At all events, he posted back to the east as fast as ever 
he could go and persuaded his honor, John Cleves 
Symmes, of Trenton, a member of Congress, and a man 
of great influence, that here lay his opportunity. 
Symmes accordingly formed a company, and, partly by 
purchase, partly by Congressional grant, secured two 
million acres of land between the Great and Little Miami 
rivers, including the site of Cincinnati, and some of the 


AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND. 


145 


richest land in all the wide west. Thither came Judge 
Symmes with his family, including' two daughters, and 
settled at North Bend, where the Ohio River makes a 
great sweep to the northward. When Ensign Harrison 
joined the army, the Symmes homestead, such as it was, 
had been standing od the river bank for two years or 
thereabout, and it was not long before the young Vir- 
ginian made the acquaintance of the judge’s daughters, 
who were sometimes sent to the fort for safe keeping, 
when the Indians threatened to become troublesome. 

This, however, did not for the time at least interfere 
with military duty, and here was the young fellow shiv- 
ering over a fire in the northern wilderness and listen- 
ing to the howling of wolves in the frosty night, when 
he might have been reading medical books by the fire 
in dressing-gown and slippers, in quiet, well-ordered 
Philadelphia. 

The night wore away at last, and as we had decided 
to make a late start, we who had been on the alert all 
night managed to get two or three hours’ sleep. 

One more night we camped, and reached Fort Hamil- 
ton in good season the following day. Bands of Indians 
hovered on our flanks all the way, but not a man nor an 
animal did we lose, and my young ensign turned over 
his command in due time to an older officer sent to 
relieve him and establish a permanent post on the 


K 


146 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


banks of the Great Miami. Shortly after this Mr. Har- 
rison and I rode back to Fort Washington, and General 
St. Clair was pleased to compliment the ensign in a 
public order upon the successful performance of a diffi- 
cult and perilous duty. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


“Long live the young Republic — 

Thus perish all her foes ! ” 

1 HAD, of course, made my own set of friends in the 
garrison long before Mr. Harrison reported for duty, 
but as I was rather a silent person I did not talk to 
anybody about my early association with him, so it 
came about that I overheard many comments on the 
young ensign’s appearance when he first turned out for 
parade. He had ridden to the post in a frontiersman’s 
outfit so as to save his new regulation uniform, and he 
was not altogether wonted to wearing his sword without 
having it get between his legs when he walked. So 
there were sundry jokes cracked at his expense, and one 
of St. Clair’s veterans afterward went so far as to write 
home, “ I would as soon have thought of putting my 
wife in the service as this boy, but I have been out 
with him and I find those smooth cheeks are on a wise 
head, and that slight frame is almost as tough as my 
own weather-beaten carcass.” Amongst the rank and 
file he was at first nicknamed ‘‘Miss Nancy,” but after 
the little affair of outposts that I mentioned a few pages 


147 


148 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


back, it was dropped by common consent, and when he 
came back from the Fort Hamilton expedition he was 
as well liked as any officer in the command, except for 
the fast set who made several vain attempts to make 
him “pay his footing,” as it is called. 

The last of these was upon the occasion of the publi- 
cation of General St. Clair’s order commending him for 
his conduct of the Fort Hamilton expedition. The pay- 
master had just arrived, coming down the river on a 
barge with a strong escort of soldiers, to the great joy 
of the entire garrison, and it so happened that the gen- 
eral’s order was read at parade on the afternoon of the 
very day when the pay rolls had been made out and 
everybody felt rich and happy. Mr. Harrison was at 
his post in front of his company, quite innocent of what 
was coming when the adjutant called “’Tention to 
Orders,” and read out in his sing-song voice the words 
of commendation. From my place amongst the lookers- 
on — I and the other irregulars were not required to 
parade — I could see him flush painfully to the very 
roots of his hair, and then he went pale till I thought 
he would totter and fall in his place, but he came 
through all right, faced inward properly when the officers 
closed on the front and centre, and received the con- 
gratulations of his fellows when they broke ranks after 
saluting the commandant. 


“LONG LIVE THE YOUNG REPUBLIC.” 1 49 

That night half a dozen of the hardest drinkers in the 
garrison came to his quarters, where I chanced to be by 
his invitation. Of course I made as if to withdraw, but 
Mr. Harrison called me back. The little log-walled 
room did not afford seats for all, though Mr. Harrison, 
with the hospitality of his Virginian bringing up, invited 
all to be seated. He must have divined their intent, 
for he immediately asked me to swing the kettle in over 
the coals, and turning to his visitors said in a good- 
natured way, “You know my principles, gentlemen, in 
regard to drink, so I need not apologize for offering you 
a cup of chocolate in place of something stronger. 
This is made from some chocolate that the Marquis of 
Lafayette sent to my mother from France, and I find it 
very good of an evening. I hope you will join me.” 

The visitors glanced uncomfortably at each other, 
and one who was evidently appointed spokesman and 
who I noticed was already a bit the worse for liquor, 
produced a portentous black bottle from underneath 
his overcoat. 

“ Oh, bother your mother’s chocolate ; here’s the 
stuff ! We knew you wouldn’t have any, so we 
brought a supply along. Glasses, gentlemen ! ” Upon 
this each of the visitors produced a pewter mess cup. 
“Now, then, you’ve held off long enough. It’s time 
you learned the customs of the service. Virginia gen- 


150 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

tlemen are no molly-coddles, and we don’t intend that 
any such shall remain in the First Sub-Legion. Fill 
up ! here’s to the Army ! ” “ I am willing to believe,” 

he continued, “ that you are not familiar with the 
custom of the service. If an officer declines to drink 
with his comrades, it is assumed that he thereby chal- 
lenges them to make him drink if they can, and their 
first action is to give him the contents of their glasses 
full in the face.” Here the speaker advanced and 
somewhat unsteadily filled Mr. Harrison’s cup, which 
sat upon the table at his elbow. 

It was a trying moment for the young ensign, and 
not knowing in the least how he would meet the 
crisis, I edged quietly over to be near him in any 
event, but I need not have feared. Harrison always 
rose to an emergency. He took the cup in his hand, 
standing with it partly raised : — 

“You do me honor, gentlemen, by reminding me of 
my Virginian ancestry, and their hospitable customs. 
I am, as Captain Blanko has said, a newcomer among 
you, and may be pardoned for my ignorance of cer- 
tain niceties in army etiquette. I think, however, 
that I may fairly presume to a knowledge of the social 
customs that prevail among the best families of Vir- 
ginia, and I must say that I have never known a com- 
pany of gentlemen to claim a gentleman’s hospitality 


“LONG LIVE THE YOUNG REPUBLIC.” 151 

and then to reject with scorn the best that he has to 
offer. Captain Blanko is my senior in rank, but I 
can see that he is hardly responsible for his present 
acts. This room is my castle. Captain Blanko, you 
will leave it at once or I will dash this cup of liquor 
in your face, and I will add that I stand ready to give 
you any satisfaction you may demand when you are 
sober enough to be responsible for your acts.” 

Captain Blanko was not in the frame of mind that 
favors submission to anything savoring of reproof, and 
with a rough oath he gave the signal to his companions 
to douse the contents of their glasses over the defiant 
youngster before them, but the rest of the company 
had not as yet altogether parted with their senses, and 
one of them grasped his upraised arm. “No! No! 
Blanko, this has gone too far, the lad is more than half 
right,” and two of them managed to shove him back- 
ward out at the door into the blackness of the outer 
night. 

The door remained open, and Harrison stood facing 
his four remaining visitors. We could hear Blanko and 
his escort stumbling across the parade, toward some 
more congenial quarters. 

“ Don’t go, gentlemen,” cried Harrison, as the others 
made a move to follow ; “ your glasses are full, and so is 
mine; allow me to offer you a sentiment,” — he raised 


152 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


his own cup. Standing with his face toward the fire 
which sent its glare out across the frozen ground, he 
did not see what I did through the open door, namely, 
old General St. Clair leaning on the arm of an orderly, 
his benevolent ruddy face framed in flowing white hair, 
and his long cavalry cape wrapped about him. The 
general halted instinctively and watched the proceed- 
ings within. 

“ Long live the young Republic,” Harrison went on, 
“and thus perish all her foes.” With a sudden move- 
ment he sent the whiskey flying into the fire, where 
for an instant a bluish flame mingled with the yellow 
blaze of hickory. The four officers glanced at one 
another rather sheepishly. Then one, seeing perhaps 
an easy way out of an awkward dilemma, stepped 
forward with, — 

“ So say I,” dashing his liquor into the fire as he 
spoke. “ And I ! and I ! ” said the others, following 
suit, and a broad blue sheet flashed up the chimney- 
throat. 

The men stood looking foolishly at one another, and 
all started, each instinctively putting his empty cup 
behind him, as the general came forward. 

“Mr. Harrison,” he said, “allow me to say that’s the 
best sermon I ever heard, and I wish Captain Blanko 
could have heard it too. I met him going toward his 


“LONG LIVE THE YOUNG REPUBLIC.” 1 53 

quarters in a state that is far too common in this 
garrison. May I come in ? ” 

Of course Harrison made him welcome, and urging 
the others to remain, sent me out to borrow some 
stools, for chairs were not very plenty in those days. 

With ready courtesy he told the general that he was 
on the point of making chocolate for his guests, and 
invited his veteran commander to partake. 

The kettle was now boiling, and in a few minutes 
each guest had a fragrant steaming cup in his hand, and 
all seemed, or at least made a pretence of seeming, to 
enjoy the occasion, for the old general was in a genial 
mood, and talked most charmingly of matters that were 
of interest to all young soldiers. 

When the pannikin was emptied, the younger officers 
took their leave, and I have reason to believe that all 
went quietly to their own quarters, on that night at 
least, instead of sitting up to a late hour, and unfitting 
themselves for duty after the manner of Captain 
Blanko. 

When the door closed behind them, the general 
arose, and laying his hand upon the young man’s 
shoulder said with a break in his voice, “ Harrison, my 
lad, I don’t know what happened before I came within 
range, but I can pretty well guess, and I want to thank 
you personally for the stand you took. It was well and 


154 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


nobly done, and I shall try to back you up. This 
whiskey business is largely to blame for our mis- 
fortunes, and I confess I do not know how to deal with 
it. You have given me a hint, however, which I shall 
act upon while I remain in command, which will not be 
for long.” 

‘‘Why, sir,” said Harrison, “I hope you are not 
going to leave us.” 

“ Yes, my lad. So ’tis written, I think. At all 
events, I have asked to be relieved. That last expedi- 
tion and its disastrous end showed me that I am too 
old for frontier fighting, and I hope they will send 
‘ Mad Anthony ’ or some such fellow as he to take my 
place. Anyhow, I am not so old as to be blind to the 
fact that my fighting days are over. You may count 
on such influence as I have, however, to give you a good 
introduction to my successor, whoever he may be. 
Good-night, my boy. Leave your door open so that the 
old man can see his way home,” and declining all es- 
cort — he had dismissed his orderly — the old soldier of 
the Revolution departed to his quarters. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


AN OHIO “racer” — BRADEE TELLS A YARN. 

FEW miles down the river, on the same side as 



/v Fort Washington, stood the Symmes homestead, — 
“ Fort Symmes,” as it was familiarly called ; for it was 
a solid structure of logs able to resist a siege of some 
energy where redskins were the assailants ; provisioned, 
and to some extent garrisoned, with a view to the 
doubtful fortunes of frontier life. 

There were not many women along the border in 
those days. Few of the officers wished or dared to 
bring their families with them, but old Judge Symmes, 
when he determined to break up his old home in quiet 
Trenton on the Delaware, was asked what he would do 
with his daughters, whose mother had died a few years 
before. 

“ Do } ” replied he ; “ take ’em with me, of course. 
They were children when the British and Hessians held 
Trenton in the winter of ’83, and they heard bullets 
sing when Washington drove the redcoats out of 


156 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Trenton. Neither redcoats nor redskins have any 
terrors for them.” 

If the young ladies thought differently, and I have 
some reason to believe that they did, they made the 
best of it ; so there they were, in a log cabin on the 
Ohio River bluffs, where they could hear the wolves 
howl at the moon all night, and where, only too often, 
the horn was blown to call the axemen in from the 
woods because there was news of a war-party of Hurons 
or Miamis in the neighborhood. 

I can hardly believe my memory when I look back 
upon those days and remember how we used to ride 
about singly or in parties of two or three. How even 
the Symmes girls used to venture alone into the woods 
in search of flowers, and how solitary dwellers, away 
up toward the Maumee Settlements, never abandoned 
their cabins and yet came through all those terrors 
unharmed. 

Yet so it was, and it was no unusual thing for Mr. 
Harrison to call for his horse, when there was nothing 
to keep him at headquarters, and ride down to the other 
“ fort,” where a welcome always awaited him, alike 
from the old judge and his pretty daughters. The 
judge did not by any means encourage visits from all 
the young officers of the garrison, and he had a way of 
indicating his preferences in terms which were toler- 


AN OHIO “RACER.’ 


157 


ably easy to understand. Captain Blanko and his set 
soon found that the young ladies were very apt to be 
gone for a visit to some distant neighbor, and that the 
judge did not in their case, at least, put himself out to 
observe frontier rites of hospitality. Accordingly they 
soon ceased to go where their society was not desired, 
and my young ensign and one or two others of the 
best young officers in the garrison usually found the 
coast clear when they visited Fort Symmes, save for 
such insignificant trifles as prowling redskins. 

Sometimes when the river was clear of ice and we 
could get a crew of boatmen, we would drop down 
stream on the swift tawny current, and so vary the 
experiences of the trip. It was very easy going down, 
but the pull back against the current was long and 
tedious. It was always deemed the part of prudence to 
hug the Kentucky shore, for there was comparatively 
small chance on that side of running into a war-party 
of savages lying in wait for just such prey as we 
offered. 

The winter passed without much trouble with the 
Indians, for they are not over-fond of leaving the 
shelter of their wigwams when frost is in the air ; but 
with the first signs of spring our scouts brought the 
expected news of war-dances, and of the incantations of 
medicine-men from the larger towns to the northward. 


158 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Negotiations looking to a continued peace had been go- 
ing on, but when the grass began to show a suspicion 
of green on sheltered southern slopes, the spirit of 
unrest made itself felt in the veins alike of white men 
and of red men. 

It was, I think, in late March or early April that 
Mr. Harrison, on the plea of making a reconnoissance, 
persuaded the general to give him a detail of river- 
men and legionaries with a sort of roving commission, 
to go down the Ohio and up either of the Miamis on 
a voyage of discovery to see if perchance aught could 
be learned of our copper-skinned friends. 

The Ohio was pouring down its mighty red flood 
brim full between the banks and bringing down logs 
and all sorts of forest wreckage from the mountains, 
but we had a stout six-oared barge and a crew of oars- 
men who knew the river as a sailor knows the sea. 

They did not waste their strength in rowing down 
stream, when we shoved out into the current. A few 
dozen strokes sent us out into the channel, where a 
seven-mile current picked us up. Oars were stowed 
athwartships, and all hands made themselves comforta- 
ble according to their different tastes. 

There was no need to detail a regular lookout, for 
every man was perpetually on the watch from mere 
force of habit, and I do not believe that any living 


AN OHIO “RACER; 


59 


thing stirred within sight of that barge that was not 
seen and rated at its true value by two or three differ- 
ent pairs of eyes. 

We had hardly more than settled ourselves when one 
of the old river-men rose in his place, shading his eyes, 
and looking up stream. 

“ What is it, Bradee ? ” asked Harrison, without 
turning his head. 

“I allow it’s a good fast ‘racer’ cornin’ round the 
p’int, sir. She’ll take us down a flyin’ if we hitch 
on to her.” 

This announcement did not make so much stir 
amongst the men as one might think. Most of them 
glanced carelessly up stream, and went on indifferently 
with whatever they happened to be about. 

I do not know if river folk still call them “ racers,” 
as we did in those days, but no doubt there are racers 
now just as there were then. 

If you will stand on a river bank in flood time, and 
watch the trash or the ice as it goes hurrying past, 
you will see now and then a log or a cake of ice 
that outstrips its fellows in the race, shouldering them 
carelessly out of the way, or riding them under, and 
forced onward, seemingly, by some mysterious power. 
I don’t mean to moralize much in this relation, — my 
granddaughter tells me that folks do not like preaching 


i6o 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


in books, — but just you take notice and see if some 
folks are not for all the world like these “racers.” 
Away down out of sight somewhere there is a mys- 
terious power that shoves them ahead, and their fellows 
must get out of the way or go under. 

Well, such a racer was driving down stream after 
us on this April morning, and she came up with us 
hand-over-fist, for a well-made boat is but a slow drifter. 
Actually, there was something uncanny in the way that 
log gained upon us. It seemed as though she carried 
a ripple at her nose like the steamboats that were 
unknown then, but which are so common now. Two 
men shoved out their oars, and a third stood by in the 
bow. When the racer swept booming past us we 
swung quietly into her wake ; the bowman harpooned 
her with the heavy boat-hook, took a turn around the 
iron shank with the painter, and away we went down 
the river, passing everything afloat, without having to 
lift a finger. 

The strange log seemed so very much alive that I 
half expected to see it go into a “ flurry ” as whales 
are said to do, when the iron strikes home, but she 
took no notice. 

The real reason for this extraordinary speed of racing 
logs lies somewhere in their wetted, or submerged 
section, but I cannot tell why, for the swiftest part of 


AN OHIO ‘‘RACER.’ 


l6l 


the current is, or ought to be, very near the surface 
of the water. 

At any rate, it afforded us unbounded satisfaction, 
and many were the rough jokes that passed among the 
men, who, after the manner of their kind, began telling 
yarns about racers that they had met, until old man 
Bradee related in most serious and circumstantial 
fashion how in colony times he had lassoed a racer 
that had lost her bearings in the back-water down 
Cairo way, where the Mississippi and the Ohio “get 
so mixed up that you cayn’t tell t’other from which. 
Well, cap, you may b’lieve me or not, but that there 
racer got so muddled in the eddies that at length she 
got p’inted up the Ohio, and away she went, lickety- 
split, ag’in the current. It were just afore then that I 
roped her, and as soon as I seen she meant business, 
me and my pardner got a good hot supper — we had 
a big dugout with a clay fireplace in one eend. Then 
we rolled up in our buffaloes and went to sleep in 
the bottom of the dugout. That was afore Fort Wash 
was tho’t on, an’ next mornin’ when I sot up an’ rubbed 
my eyes open, we was just a passin’ Pittsburgh.” 

“ Didn’t you ’uns get a little disturbed like when you 
struck the ' Big Swift ’ ? ” asked one of the men. 

“ Nary time ! Slept right through it all, me an’ my 
pardner. I kep’ that there racer goin’ on five year, and 


L 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


162 

I was allowin’ to sell her to King George for a man-o’- 
war when she slipped her halter one night and got 
away, an’ warn’t never heerd on no more. She was 
wore down pretty slim by that time tho’, and I hadn’t 
much more use for her, tho’ she’d have done well 
enough for a king’s ship ! ” 

“ Who was your pardner, Bradee ” asked the man 
who pulled stroke. Bradee turned sadly toward him : 

“Bill Knox, I’m sorry to have you a tryin’ to dis- 
credit that there gospel I’ve been tellin’ you ’uns. 
My pardner ? Why, he was a namesake of yourn, — 
Knox, Joseph Knox. He was hung for sheep stealin’ 
over in the Virginy settlements. I reckon the cap’n 
here must ha’ knowed him.” 

Harrison laughingly denied the honor, and I saw him 
eagerly watching the bend of the river ahead of us, for 
we were fast nearing the point where we might expect 
to sight the low gray log walls and the smoking chimneys 
of Fort Symmes. What other racer stories were in re- 
serve I am sure I cannot tell, for as Bradee concluded his 
truthful tale, Harrison tapped me on the shoulder with : 

“Look, Carol! What is that just under the bluff 
A woman’s dress, sure as I’m alive, and see, are not those 
redskins among the trees higher up ? Yes — cast off the 
line, for’ard there. Out oars I men ! Fresh prime your 
pieces, every one. There may be work ahead for us.” 


CHAPTER XV. 


u 


JOHNNY APPLESEED.’ 



HE men shoved their oars outboard in a twinkling, 


1 those on the hither side bearing off from the log 
with their blades till there was space to catch the 
water, when all began pulling with a will, and the heavy 
boat surged forward, soon drawing ahead of the racer. 
The rest of us looked to the priming of rifles and 
muskets, first their own and then those belonging to 
the rowers. 

Of course the Indians had seen us quite as soon as 
we saw them, and they took to cover in leisurely way, 
more as if from force of habit than from any hostile 
intent. Two figures remained standing a little back 
from the edge of the bluff, one of them evidently the 
chief, who raised his arm with open hand to indicate 
peaceful intent. The other was a queer personage in 
an indescribable dress, with a leathern bag slung over 
his shoulder. Some of the scouts at once recognized 
him as “Johnny Appleseed.” 

As we drew nearer, we could see that two women 
cowered under the bank quite out of sight from above. 


163 


164 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

but plainly visible to us from the river. Mr. Harrison’s 
face grew white and tense as he recognized the two 
young ladies from Fort Symmes. We could only guess, 
as indeed proved to be the fact, that they had wandered 
along the river bank in search of early spring flowers, 
and becoming in some way aware of Indians, had 
hidden themselves at the waterside, hoping to escape 
notice. This they had seemingly done, for had they 
been discovered, they would have been seized on the 
instant and carried off as captives to the Indian towns, 
where life in slavery or death by torture would surely 
have been their fate. 

Manifestly the Indians had us at a disadvantage if 
they chose to stand us off, for they were scattered and 
well sheltered by tree trunks and by small inequalities 
of the ground, while we were all bunched together in 
the boat without anything to shield us from bullet or 
arrow. Moreover, they outnumbered us so that an 
attempt to land and rush their position was practically 
out of the question. However, the chief made the sign 
for a friendly interview, and Mr. Harrison headed the 
boat for a big log that had grounded upon a bank a 
little above where the girls were in hiding. 

“ I am going to land, Carol,” the ensign said to me, 
“and have ‘a peace-talk’ with those Indians. You, 
Hradee, as soon as ever I get them ‘palavering,’ drop 


JOHNNY APPLESEED.’ 


165 


the boat quietly down to where the girls are, get them 
aboard, and hide them in the bottom of the boat, under 
blankets and coats, and if the Indians lay hold on us, 
you shove off and get away down to Fort Symmes if 
you can. Blaze away, and don’t mind us if it comes to 
that, but save the women if you can.” 

“ All right, sir ! we’ll do our durndest,” answered 
Bradee, and with that the barge rounded to alongside 
the log, and we two scrambled up to the crest of the 
steep clay bank, where we were met by the chief, whom I 
recognized as “Stone-eater,” one of the most daring and 
cruel of the brav^es who had fought us the year before. 
I thought it boded us no good, and trembled lest some 
keen-eyed savage should suspect the presence of the 
young women under the bank. They were well con- 
cealed, however, for the present, and unless some unfore- 
seen accident called the Indians to the bank just above 
them they could not be discovered. 

Harrison had been present at more than one council 
with the red men, and was quite competent to go 
through the usual ceremonies and make the necessary 
protestations in regard to speaking with a single tongue 
and having an undying affection for Indians in general. 
The chief was evidently taken aback at meeting such 
a smooth-faced boy as Harrison was at that time, 
but the two talked partly by signs and partly by word 


l66 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

of mouth, Harrison’s object being, of course, to gain 
time, till the chief’s followers one by one drew near, and 
we were soon quite surrounded by as dangerous a look- 
ing war-party as it has ever been my fortune to behold. 

Matters were progressing swimmingly when I became 
aware that two Indians were leaving the group, and 
stealing cautiously toward the very point of the bank 
where we did not want them to go. I thought that the 
game was up sure enough, for they had undoubtedly heard 
some noise from the boat that aroused their suspicions. 

Just at this moment, and in the nick of time, a burst 
of strange idiotic laughter rang through the forest, and 
Johnny Appleseed came running toward us, swinging 
his bag and pointing toward a level bit of river bank 
fifty yards or so above our council ground. 

Indians always treat the insane with great respect 
and consideration, believing them to be under the 
especial protection of the Great Spirit, and thanks to 
this diversion, the attention of everybody was for the 
moment directed to Johnny’s performances. 

He ran or shambled along till he came to the level 
place, where, laying his old coon-skin cap on the ground, 
he went down upon his knees and began to pray in a 
loud voice. What he said I do not know, for I felt 
that our lives hung upon a thread, but the prayer, what- 
ever it was, brought instant answer. 


JOHNNY APPLESEED.’ 


167 

An awe-stricken whisper passed from man to man 
among the savages, and forgetting the “talk” with 
the “palefaces,” they drew nearer to the queer sup- 
pliant figure that knelt upon the withered grass. For 
a few minutes Johnny continued his prayer, then rose, 
put on his cap, drew a sharp-pointed stick from his belt, 
and advancing to the edge of the little plateau made 
a shallow hole in the soil. Leaving the stick standing 
upright in this, he thrust one hand into his bag, and 
extracting some very small object therefrom dropped 
it into the hole and covered it with earth. 

This operation he repeated seven times with due 
solemnity, then returning to the middle of the plateau, 
again he uncovered, stood silent with bowed head for 
a moment, and then without a glance at the observant 
group of strangely assorted spectators, strode off into 
the forest. 

For the first time Harrison and I dared to exchange 
glances with something like a sigh of relief, for some 
ten minutes had passed, and we were certain that the 
girls were by this time safe on board the barge. 

The warrior turned to Harrison. “Johnny make 
good medicine ” he asked. 

“ Yes. He prayed to the Great Spirit that a wigwam 
might be built upon the place where he knelt, and that 
the red man and the paleface might smoke the peace 
pipe there together.” 


i68 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


“Johnny great medicine-man,” said the warrior. 
“You and me — let us smoke together here.” 

“ My brother speaks well,” said Harrison, “ but first 
let me send my boat down to Fort Symmes; the people 
there are in want of corn, and I am taking some to 
them. I and my white brother will walk down the 
river bank after we have smoked.” 

“ It is well,” replied the chief, and he strode away 
to prepare the pipe followed by mo.st of his braves. 

Harrison went to the edge of the bluff, and hailing 
Bradee bade him drop down to Fort Symmes, and we 
would follow on foot. 

With an expressive wink Bradee gave his superior 
to understand that the blankets carelessly piled in the 
stern sheets covered a very precious species of cargo. 
Then he ordered the bowman to shove off ; the boat, 
swinging out into the current, passed out of sight 
around the curving shore, and we returned with lighter 
hearts to sit on the ground about a fire for the better 
part of an hour, and in solemn silence pass a red clay 
pipe from hand to hand, each taking a whiff, in turn, 
until the circuit was several times completed. 

The ceremony ended, renewed pledges of good will 
were exchanged, and we two palefaces marched off 
together, well satisfied with the conclusion of what 
promised at the first to be a most perilous affair. 


JOHNNY APPLESEED; 


169 


I must not close this chapter without a word about 
“Johnny Appleseed,” a real character who spent his 
winters in patiently collecting seeds wherever he could 
get them in the settlements. He would dry these* 
carefully, and when he had filled all the bags that he 
could conveniently carry, would tramp off into the 
wilderness and plant the seeds one by one, wherever 
the mood took him. He came and went freely among 
the fiercest of the Indian tribes, for they respected his 
infirmity, and to this day “Johnny Appleseed’s or- 
chards ” are to be found in unexpected nooks scattered 
over what was once the Northwestern Territory. 

It was shrewdly suspected, however, that Johnny’s 
madness was not quite without method, for he would 
sometimes appear unexpectedly, and give warning to 
his friends among the settlers when the Indians were 
preparing to go upon the war-path, and occasionally 
when the danger was imminent as in the instance just 
related, he would go to work planting his seeds where 
he was certain to be seen by the Indians, and so ward 
off the intended attack, for they thought that he was 
engaged in some mysterious religious rite that it would 
not be safe to disregard. 

Of course the result of Johnny’s labors was not of 
any especial value as regards fruit, but the young apple 
trees, springing up amidst the giant oaks and walnuts of 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


170 

the primeval forest, gave cheer to many a homesick 
settler from the old colonies, and originally fixed the 
location of hundreds of homes in the Ohio valley. 

* It was, as we reckoned, some five miles to Fort 
Symmes, but there was a good trail, and as we were fast 
walkers we covered it in about an hour, and came out 
into the home- clearing just in time to hear the horn 
blown and see the axemen scurrying out of the timber, 
and the field hands unhitching their teams in mid 
furrow, while all made for the “fort” by the shortest 
practicable route. 

We, too, ran for the same goal, not knowing but that 
war had suddenly broken out, in spite of our late peace- 
able parting with Cornplanter’s band, five miles 
above. 

On reaching the house, Harrison’s first inquiry was 
for the boat party, and being satisfied of their safety, 
his second was for Johnny Appleseed, who presently 
appeared, laughing vacantly and talking to himself, as 
he seated himself beside a stump and began carefully 
sorting over a handful of his treasures. 

Johnny was entirely non-committal on the matter of 
Indians, now that all his white folks were present or 
accounted for, so he was left to his own devices, and I 
followed Mr. Harrison into the house, where the judge 
was reading a lecture to the two girls for having vent- 


JOHNNY APPLESEED.’ 


171 

ured so far afield. They had, it appeared, wandered 
off into the woods, which were now well awakened to 
the stirring of early spring, and had suddenly become 
aware that they were lost. 

They knew enough of woodcraft, however, to steer 
by the sun, and keeping it on their left cheeks had 
shaped their course as nearly south as possible, strik- 
ing the river bank at the point where we had found 
them. 


CHAPTER XVL 


**FORT SYMMES ” A RIVER FIGHT. 

HE two young women must have walked eight or 



A nine miles before they heard the booming of the 
Ohio, and they were pretty well tired when they 
reached the bank and stopped to rest and decide 
whether they were above or below their home, but 
hardly were they seated on a fallen log, when they 
became aware of something moving in the undergrowth 
near at hand. Whether it was a bear, or worse, some 
prowling Indian, they could not tell, but they shrank 
behind their log, not daring even to whisper to one 
another, and awaiting developments. They heard the 
unknown something steal cautiously up behind the mass 
of earth and roots, uptorn by the tree in its fall, and 
were at last immensely relieved at the sight of Johnny 
Appleseed’s genial features peering at them through 
an opening. 

Johnny made them understand that they must climb 
down and hide under the bank, whither he presently 
followed them, and, in his incoherent way, told them 


172 


“FORT SYMMES” — A RIVER FIGHT. 1 73 

that a war-party of Indians was close at hand, and that 
their safety depended upon keeping absolutely still and 
in hiding while he endeavored to send off the Indians in 
another direction. He then left them and was engaged 
in mystifying the savages by his usual tactics, when we 
hove in sight, coming down stream, and changed the 
whole situation, but whether for better or worse, was 
for a time uncertain. 

As soon as he could safely do so, Johnny had made 
his way, by a roundabout route, to the Symmes home- 
stead and given the alarm, as has been related in the 
preceding chapter. 

There was naught to be done, now, but make every- 
thing as secure as possible for the night, for there was 
no telling what a war-party might attempt under cover 
of darkness, but with the force now at hand, some 
fifteen men altogether, we felt tolerably sure of being 
able to defend the house against any possible attack. 

As soon as darkness fell, a canoe with two men was 
sent across to the Kentucky shore, to work its way up 
to Fort Washington and give the alarm ; and then the 
little garrison at Symmes’ set its watchmen and made 
itself comfortable for the night, the women folk busy- 
ing themselves about a good supper for all hands, and 
the men looking to their arms and loading all available 
extra weapons for instant service. 


1/4 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


It is difficult to realize how under such circumstances 
people could go about their ordinary household duties 
with apparent unconcern, but, save for the unusual 
number of soldiers and frontiersmen lying about the 
spacious kitchen in all sorts of attitudes, there was no 
indication of anything unusual. 

Indeed, so far as was possible, every home in the 
Northwest, at that time, was a fortress in itself. The 
stout log walls were proof against any missiles at the 
command of an Indian foe, and the inmates must needs 
trust to vigilance and watch-dogs, to give notice of any 
attempt to set the structure on fire from without. 

In one end of the long building, the judge and his 
family had their private quarters, rather cramped, of 
course, and not very private, but far more spacious and 
luxurious than was common in those days on the 
frontier. The other end was one large apartment with 
a big fireplace, where the cooking was done, and where 
the farm-hands and wandering trappers and stray 
friendly Indians were welcome to make themselves 
comfortable on the floor after the day’s household work 
was done. 

All the doors leading outward were made of heavy 
stuff and provided with cross-bars, which rendered 
them almost as secure against attack as were the log 
walls themselves. 


FORT SYMMES” — A RIVER FIGHT. 


175 


My place was in the kitchen, of course, but now and 
then I caught a glimpse through an open door of the 
family living-room, to which Mr. Harrison, as the 
officer in command, had been invited. He seemed to be 
having a very sociable time with the two young women, 
who were busy with knitting or sewing ; while the 
judge with his spectacles on was reading a Philadelphia 
paper a month old, and asking his guest from time to 
time about the latest news from the settlements. 

The Symmes were reckless, on this occasion, at 
least, in the matter of light, for no less than four home- 
made tallow candles were burning in this one room, 
where there was a bright fire on the hearth besides. 
In the course of the evening, Mr. Harrison called me 
in, to give some directions about posting and relieving 
the men who were to remain on guard ; and so I had a 
chance to see the young ladies in their home surround- 
ings. Very charming they looked in their plain linsey 
gowns, and although I had been all my life accustomed 
to the grand dames of Old Virginia, I thought that 
these girls looked every bit as worthy of a man’s 
admiration. It was very evident that my young ensign 
thought so, too, and I made up my mind that one of 
them, which one I could not then decide, was destined 
to be of some importance in his future career. 

Early hours were the rule on the frontier in those 


76 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


days, and by eight o’clock lights were out, and Mr. 
Harrison and I lay down on the floor of the living-room 
on our buffalo robes. The Indians were prowling about 
all night, as the dogs told us at intervals by howling 
and asking to be let inside, and once we were all 
awakened by two rifle-shots, the guards both declaring 
that they saw some Indians creeping toward the house, 
no doubt with the intention of setting it on fire. They 
might easily have fired any or all of the out-buildings, 
but the red man is not without foresight, and as he 
wanted scalps and prisoners rather than the mere pass- 
ing pleasure of making a blaze, he prudently waited his 
time. 

A brave of the Miamis once said to me in a moment 
of confidence, “We burn your corn-house, and your 
stable — you go way, never come back no more — we 
not get your scalp — we wait — sometime you all asleep. 
Then we set fire your house, cotch you all. Ugh ! 
Burn corn-house and stable by’m by. Ugh ! ” 

At all events, the night passed quietly save for one 
or two false alarms, and at the first peep of day we 
turned out, unbarred the door after a careful survey of 
the clearing, and were presently cooking our breakfasts 
at an outside fire, for Mr. Harrison told his men that 
they must not tax the judge’s hospitality more than 
was absolutely necessary. 


“FORT SYMMES” — A RIVER FIGHT. 1 77 

Since word had been sent to the fort, it was neces- 
sary for us to wait instructions, and they were not long 
in coming, for by noon a second boat-load of soldiers 
arrived with an officer in charge, who was Harrison’s 
senior, and who took command at once, not, as it seemed 
to me, to the entire satisfaction of the Symmes house- 
hold, or some of them. 

I have given more space perhaps than is right to the 
account of this affair, for it seems of small account, 
since the Indians did not give us a chance to show what 
sort of a defence we could put up, but as I remember 
the conditions, and the narrow escape that Miss Anne 
had from capture, it seems to me that it was a very 
important incident in the life of my hero. 

After a few days, the Indians took themselves away 
whence they came, and we returned to our routine 
duties at Fort Washington, not, however, without hav- 
ing pushed our reconnoissance up the two Miamis, well 
into the heart of the “Slaughter House” region. We 
encountered several parties of Indians, but always under 
circumstances that gave us rather the advantage, so 
they let us alone and were ready to “talk peace talk” 
to any reasonable extent, since paleface time was of no 
account whatever to them. 

It was not until just as we were leaving the mouth of 
the Little Miami, that they attempted to cut us off from 

M 


1/8 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


the Ohio River, where we were comparatively safe, but 
exchanging a few shots with them, and finding that they 
were so well protected that we could not run by with- 
out useless loss, we pulled back for a mile or so up the 
river, and tied up alongside a temporary island, formed 
by an accumulation of flood trash, with the intention of 
waiting for darkness before attempting to make our 
escape into the larger stream. 

It was rather a long and tedious wait, for the sun was 
still four hours high, and Mr. Harrison’s active mind 
presently set him to devising a scheme to outwit our foes, 
at least to the extent of diminishing the risk to our- 
selves. “ Bradee,” said he, after climbing up on the pile 
of driftwood and taking a look at the surroundings, 
“why can’t we build a Mummy’ barge, and set her 
adrift in mid channel to draw their fire when we go 
down. Here is a good straight dry log of whitewood, 
that we can cut into pieces about the length of our 
barge. Lash them together with grapevines, of which 
there’s a plenty, and then pile brush on top to make it 
look, in the darkness, like a boat full of men. They 
will open fire on it for a while at least, and save our 
dodging just so many bullets.” 

Bradee thought it a capital plan, and the men all 
went to work with a will, using not only the axes that 
we had in the boat, but doing wonders with their hunt- 


FORT SYMMES” — A RIVER FIGHT. 


179 


ing-knives. By Harrison’s direction the work was so 
conducted that the scouts, whom he knew must be 
watching us from the shore, should think we were forti- 
fying the island with a view to remaining there, and 
indeed we did rearrange the logs a bit, breastwork fash- 
ion, for it was just as well to be prepared for emergen- 
cies, and the men were interested in any scheme that 
looked to “ fooling ” the redskins. We had a good hot 
supper before sunset, so that the fires could be put out 
before dark, and making fast alongside our “dummy,” 
waited for absolute darkness before casting loose from 
the friendly island. As soon as it was dark enough, a 
“smudge” was lighted on the upper end of the island 
at Bradee’s suggestion. “For,” said he, “they may 
shoot at it if they think we are staying, and they may 
do whatever they like if they think we lighted it to fool 
’em. Anyhow, it ain’t likely they won’t see us when 
we do start.” 

There was a young moon ; and as soon as it was 
fairly set, we shoved off in absolute silence with the 
dummy alongside, but were hardly clear of the island 
when an owl hooted in the dark forest and another 
answered away down stream. 

“That’s them,” was the comment among the river 
men. “They’ll give us Jessie when we git down to 
the fork.” 


l8o A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

Not even Indians can thread a dense forest in the 
dead of night, and at the same time keep a very sharp 
watch upon a flowing river ; accordingly, when we 
rounded the last bend above the mouth of the Miami, 
we cast off our lashings and set the dummy adrift, 
with a drag astern to keep her from swinging broad- 
side on. Holding our own boat back with the oars, 
the dummy soon left us astern, and when there was 
a space of fifty yards or so between us, we drifted 
silently along in her wake. On shore there was ab- 
solute stillness, save for the occasional hoot of an 
owl, so cleverly done that even old backwoodsmen 
like Bradee and myself were at a loss to know whether 
it was real or not. 

As we neared the danger line, I heard a rippling 
sound ahead that I knew I had not heard when we 
passed that point earlier in the day, and, gazing in- 
tently forward, I made out that the dummy was swing- 
ing broadside to. The Indians had evidently rigged 
some sort of a boom across the channel, hoping to 
trap us as we went down. We learned afterward that 
some of their friends from the nearest British post 
had come down and helped them in an engineering 
feat that they were hardly up to themselves. The 
dummy served its turn, however, for the war-whoop 
sounded on the instant, and little spirts of fire from 


“FORT SYMMES” — A RIVER FIGHT. l8l 

both sides of the river showed us that we were in a 
tight place. 

“ Steer as close under the bank as you can, Bradee. 
Stand by with an axe for’ard, Carol.” Bradee obeyed, 
and I knelt in the bow with the axe and my sheath 
knife, ready to cut away anything that we might run 
against. The Indians were of course intent upon 
riddling the dummy with as many rifle-balls as they 
could shoot off, and what with their own yells and the 
flash of their pieces, they did not discover us till we 
fouled the boom close inshore where it rose a foot 
or so clear of the water. It was of course under a 
tremendous strain and parted like a bowstring at 
the first fair blow with the axe, but the noise revealed 
us to the foe on the bank above, and for a few minutes 
we caught it pretty hot with lead bullets and flint 
arrow-heads. However, shooting with any kind of 
weapon in the dark is but uncertain business, and we 
had only one man seriously hurt, though there were 
a dozen wounds distributed amongst us. 

We fired one volley into our foemen’s facesy not with- 
out effect, as we flattered ourselves ; but the darkness 
and our oars were our best protection, and in a few 
minutes we were well out of range, sweeping across 
to Kentucky, where we went into camp, Mr. Harrison 
bringing to bear such surgical skill as he had ac- 


i 82 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


quired during his medical studies, in caring for the 
wounded. 

The Indians evidently were not provided with 
canoes enough to ferry them over after us, for only 
one small dugout made its appearance off our camping- 
ground, with two Indians aboard, and they promptly 
sheered off when I tried a shot at long range. The 
bullet was well-nigh spent when it hit the canoe, but 
the distance was near five hundred yards, and the shot 
was well expended as a hint to keep a respectful 
distance. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


“ MAD ANTPIONY ” WAYNE — LIEUTENANT HARRISON. 



UR wounded men made it necessary for us to 


^ stop at “ Fort Symmes ” on our way up the river, 
but I am very much inclined to think that Ensign 
Harrison would have invented some other reason for 
stopping there, even if such an excellent and humane 
one had not existed. 

The crowded boat made it so uncomfortable for the 
poor fellows, and withal so inconvenient for us who 
had the work of rowing and possibly of fighting to 
do, that it was a plain case of necessity, so we left 
them in care of the women folk, half envying them 
their luck at having such nurses, and worked our weary 
way up to Fort Washington, crossing from side to 
side of the rushing river, so as to take advantage of 
every eddy and backset of the current, and reaching 
the fort after what was considered a very successful 
expedition. 

Shortly after our return to duty, a messenger arrived 
from Philadelphia, conveying the important news that 


183 


1 84 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

after infinite wrangling, Congress, at Washington’s 
earnest solicitation, had appointed Anthony Wayne to 
be commander-in-chief, and had granted authority for 
raising an army of five thousand men. 

This was cheering news for us, for, owing to defeat 
and demoralization, our little regular force was not 
quite what the army of the young Republic ought 
to be. 

General Wayne, popularly known throughout the 
country as “ Mad Anthony,” was at this time but 
little past the prime of life, a thorough soldier, and 
filled with indignation at the mismanagement and laxity 
that had worked such ruin along the northwestern 
frontier. 

He established his headquarters at Pittsburgh, and 
recruiting officers, under the impulse of Washington’s 
appeal to the country and Wayne’s personal popularity, 
were unexpectedly successful in securing enlistments. 
The recruits were forwarded to Pittsburgh as rapidly 
as possible, a large number of young men who had seen 
service in the War for Independence rallied to their 
old comrades’ support, and in a surprisingly short 
space of time the raw recruits began to take on the 
bearing of trained soldiers. 

There was a deal of grumbling, you may be sure, 
and some attempts at desertion and insubordination. 


“MAD ANTHONY” W A YNE — LIEUTENANT HARRISON. 1 85 

but Wayne knew all about it, and gave his men no 
rest until, almost before they knew it, they had become 
a solid little army nearly five thousand strong. All 
through the summer this work went on, and it was 
not till November 27th that Wayne considered his 
army really fit for service. 

On that day he broke camp, and began the march 
down the river into what might be considered the 
enemy’s country. He wisely kept his own counsel 
regarding his plans, and when well away from the 
settlements, at a point on the Ohio about twenty-two 
miles below Pittsburgh, he went into winter quarters, 
setting the men to build log huts for themselves, while 
he and his officers remained in tents until all the men 
were provided with comfortable cabins. 

Of course the anti-administration newspapers and 
politicians raised a great outcry about this proceeding, 
and if they could would have sent the army forward 
into the enemy’s country, where it would probably have 
been destroyed as Harmar’s and St. Clair’s were in 
their day, but “Mad Anthony” knew what he was about 
and bided his time. Presently the Indians began to 
make raids in the vicinity, and the newly made soldier- 
men began to learn to stand their ground under fire, 
and find that yells and war-paint were perfectly harm- 
less unless backed up by fighting material. 


1 86 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

The new military post was named Legionville, and, 
although Wayne had small confidence in peace treaties 
with the savage tribes in their then triumphant frame 
of mind, he obeyed his orders from Washington like a 
good soldier, and invited the leading chiefs to visit the 
post and hold “powwows” with a view to establishing 
friendly relations. 

It presently appeared that these half-friendly Indians, 
who were willing to take council with the whites, had 
been instructed to demand that the Ohio River should 
be the boundary between the United States and the 
Indian country. To this they were no doubt incited 
by British agents, but a large portion of the territory 
had been acquired by treaty and by purchase, and 
Congress could not honorably withdraw the protection 
from the settlers who, like the proprietor of Fort 
Symmes, faced the dangers of the frontier. 

He, indeed, was far better off than the majority of 
his fellow-pioneers, for he had a little force of men 
about him who could handle a rifle as well as an axe, 
while by far the greater number of the scattered 
settlers could count only upon their own strength and 
courage. 

Treaties with the hostile tribes had been made at 
Vincennes since St. Clair’s defeat, but nobody save the 
commissioners and the Quakers, who opposed all war- 


“MAD ANTHONY” WAYNE — LIEUTENANT HARRISON. 1 8 / 

like measures, believed for a moment that these were 
worth the paper they were written on. 

The tribesmen had thus far been victorious ; they 
no doubt believed in their own right to the disputed 
territory, and if they did not believe it, they were only 
too glad of an opportunity to settle the whole business 
by a war of extermination which, they judged from ex- 
perience, would result in their favor. 

On the last day of April, 1793, General Wayne broke 
camp at Legionville, and moved his army down the 
river in boats to Fort Washington, and at about the 
same time my ensign received promotion and became 
Lieutenant Harrison. During his months of service 
he had by strict attention to duty become an accom- 
plished officer trained in the hard school of frontier 
life, and so well was the new commander pleased with 
his efficiency and evident pride in his profession as an 
officer of the Republic, that he presently appointed 
him an aid on his personal staff. 

Drills and discipline of the strictest sort were en- 
forced at Fort Washington as at Legionville, and early 
in October the army marched northward, and six days 
later encamped on a branch of the Miami, where a log 
fort was at once constructed and named Fort Green- 
ville. 

It was practically secure against any possible force 


i88 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


that the Indians could bring against it, but only ten 
days after the camp was formed, a provision train was 
attacked, and its escort of ninety men fled in a panic, 
leaving two brave officers. Lieutenant Lowry and En- 
sign Boyd, and thirteen soldiers to die fighting bravely 
against ov’^erwhelming numbers. Truly it seemed as 
though the spirit of ’76 was gone out altogether, but 
General Wayne refused to believe it, and aided by the 
efficient officers of his command, gave his men every 
opportunity to match their skill and courage against 
that of the savages by whom they were surrounded. 

Just before Christmas Major Burbeck, with a detach- 
ment of artillery and infantry, was sent to visit the 
ground where St. Clair had met his defeat two years 
before. Mr. Harrison, anxious for active duty, volun- 
teered to accompany this expedition. For some reason 
the Indians did not molest this party, perhaps because 
they could not muster a sufficient force in the midst of 
winter. At all events, the detachment visited the place, 
gathered the bones of the dead, burying them with 
military honors, and firing a salute with the cannon 
which were found where they had been abandoned on 
the day of the fight. The commander went to work 
with a will, and after the rapid fashion of frontier 
engineers, soon had “Fort Recovery” ready for busi- 
ness, and leaving a garrison to hold the position, 


“MAD ANTHONY” WAYNE— LIEUTENANT HARRISON. 189 

the rest of the detachment returned to the main 
camp. 

Shortly after this expedition, which served a good 
turn as field practice for the new legionaries, several 
of the warlike chiefs sent a messenger to Fort Green- 
ville to arrange for a peace talk. General Wayne was 
ready to listen to anything in reason, and promised 
peace on condition that within thirty days — “one 
moon,” according to the Indian calendar — all white 
prisoners should be returned. 

Among the Indians friendly to the Americans, was 
one “Big Tree,” a famous Seneca warrior, who had reg- 
istered a vow to avenge the death of his white friend. 
General Butler, slain two years before when St. Clair’s 
army was destroyed. When this faithful ally heard 
that Wayne had returned a peaceful answer to the hos- 
tile chiefs, he in the simplicity of his heart took it for 
granted that peace was actually assumed. He could 
endure hardship and wounds, and could face death with 
his white friends, but peace he could not endure while 
his vow of vengeance remained unfulfilled. 

Accordingly he arrayed himself in his war-paint, 
withdrew to a lonely place, sang his death-song, and 
put an end to a life that had for him no farther attrac- 
tion. He was a great favorite with the soldiers, and 
when the news of his suicide, and the reason for it be- 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


190 

came known, it had the effect, strange as it may seem, 
of arousing a desire for vengeance. 

Every white man in the fort from General Wayne 
down to the youngest drummer boy knew that the 
Indian proposals for peace were made merely to gain 
time, and by taking his own life Big Tree discharged 
his own vow of vengeance, for he thereby stirred the 
fighting spirit among the soldiers. Lieutenant Harri- 
son was among the first of the officers to note the 
unlooked-for effect of this sad incident, and lost no 
opportunity of turning it to account. Before the “one 
moon ” had come and gone it was made evident that 
the Indians had no thought of releasing their prisoners 
or of accepting any conditions of peace. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


MIAMI RAPIDS VICTORY UNDER THE BRITISH GUNS. 

HE prospect of peace rapidly diminished with the 



^ advancing summer of 1794. The British erected 
a fort at the junction of Miami-of-the-Lakes and the Au 
Glaize, far within the territory conceded to the United 
States by the treaty of peace. The F'rench were push- 
ing up the Mississippi from Louisiana and had even 
fortified Chickasaw Bluffs, to the great wrath of Ken- 
tuckians, who threatened to invade French territory in 
retaliation. 

Wayne fortified and garrisoned a post on the Ohio, 
sixty miles above its mouth (Fort Massac), and on June 
30 a general assault was made on Fort Recovery. The 
strength of the attacking party was estimated at fif- 
teen hundred men, British and Indians, but after an 
obstinate fight they were beaten off. 

In July Wayne was reinforced by a strong detach- 
ment of Kentucky volunteer mounted rifles under 
General Scott, and early in August he marched north- 
ward seventy miles to Grand Glaize, in the heart of the 
hostile territory. 


192 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Without meeting any material resistance he gained 
possession of what he styled in his report “ the grand 
emporium of the hostile Indians in the West,” and, 
mindful of his instructions, gave the enemy a final 
chance to reach a peaceful agreement. 

Little Turtle, who had the credit among the 
warlike tribes of having planned and led the cam- 
paign against St. Clair, was present at the council, 
and urged the acceptance of Wayne’s proposals. “ We 
have beaten the palefaces twice” said he; ‘‘but this 
time they are led by a chief who never sleeps. . . . 
We have never been able to surprise him. Think 
well of it. Something whispers me it would be pru- 
dent to listen to his offers of peace.” But Little 
Turtle was too slow for his warlike fellows ; all peace 
measures were unpopular, for the Indians were en- 
camped in force almost under the guns of Fort Defi- 
ance, the advanced British post at the Miami Rapids. 

General Wayne saw that the time for action had 
come, and led his legion up the bank of the Miami, 
till on the i8th and 19th of August he was within 
reconnoitring distance. At last the young lieuten- 
ant found himself on congenial and exciting duty. 
An aid on the general’s staff is expected to be well 
mounted, quick of comprehension, daring, and of sound 
judgment. Lieutenant Harrison was all of these, and 


MIAMI RAPIDS — VICTORY UNDER BRITISH GUNS. 193 

as he had easily managed to have me detailed nomi- 
nally as a servant, but really as a chosen companion, 
we had numerous opportunities on this march to 
show the redskins what they might expect when they 
met real soldiers with young Virginian gentlemen for 
officers. 

We two were almost always with the advance or 
ahead of it, for as soon as the general found out my 
qualities as a scout and learned Harrison’s prudence 
as an officer, he told us to go where we liked so long 
as we could bring him news of the enemy and not 
get killed ourselves. We were thus able to render 
important services, and it is a wonder that we escaped 
with our scalps out of all the tight places that we 
ventured into. 

The woods surrounding our fortified camp below Fort 
Defiance were alive with Indians, for they had gathered 
about their British friends in great force, and were in 
a measure .sheltered by the fort itself. 

On the morning of August 20, after a night of 
watchfulness we fell in for the march as usual, know- 
ing very well that there was work before us. A 
detachment of Kentucky mounted rifles under Major 
Price led the .advance with orders to fall back on 
encountering determined resistance. Mr. Harrison 
and I went with them and, after riding about five 


N 


194 . 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


miles along the quiet river bank, we struck the 
enemy’s outposts, and drove them into some bushes 
and high grass. Suspecting an ambuscade. Major 
Price' rode forward cautiously and was greeted with 
such an extended fire that he knew instantly that he 
had struck the enemy in force, so he retired in good 
order, asking Mr. Harrison to ride back and tell the 
general how the land lay. By his direction I re- 
mained with the Kentuckians while Harrison galloped 
off, and in a few minutes the legion came up at the 
double quick and formed in two lines in the edge of 
the wood. 

It soon appeared that the enemy’s right extended 
far beyond our left, so the second line of legionaries 
deployed to the left, and General Scott with the whole 
of the Kentucky horsemen was sent away beyond 
them to turn the enemy’s flank. At the same time 
Captain Campbell with the legionary cavalry was 
ordered to make a dash along the river bank where 
the ground was comparatively open. As soon as 
troopers rode off, the long line of infantry men was 
sent forward with trailed arms and orders not to fire 
until they had cleared the covert with their bayonets. 

So impetuous were the legionaries in their charge 
that the horsemen had never a chance to use their 
sabres, for the Indians and the Canadian militia were 


MIAMI RAPIDS — VICTORY UNDER BRITISH GUNS. 1 95 

driven for two miles in the course of an hour, and 
the rout only ended when the legionaries came within 
range of the British guns, where of course a halt was 
called, since we were not supposed to be fighting 
England. As we came out in the edge of the open, 
Harrison rode up beside me, bareheaded. He had 
lost his hat in the scrimmage, and his uniform was 
torn with galloping through the dense undergrowth. 

“Carol,” said he, laying his hand upon my arm, 
“ do you remember the last time we saw that flag } ” 
“I think it must have been at Yorktown, sir,” said 
I, — I always “sirred” him when we were on duty, 
though we were ever “Will” and “Carol” in private. 

“Yes,” continued he; “it was at Yorktown. And 
do you remember how I cried myself to sleep after the 
surrender, and you told me that we might both live to 
fight the British again, for all that ? ” 

“Yes, sir, I remember it.” 

“Well, it looks as though it were coming true, 
doesn’t it .? ” for we could see the red-coated cannoneers 
standing beside their guns, and in the excitement of 
the moment none of us would have been surprised at 
an order to advance. Our gallant commander, however, 
was prudent as well as brave, and kept his men at a 
respectful distance from the forts. 

After the dead had been buried and the wounded 


196 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


cared for, Generals Wayne and Wilkinson, with a troop 
of dragoons for escort, rode forward to reconnoitre 
within sixty yards of the fort, so near, in fact, that Mr. 
Harrison saw a British soldier taking a careful sight at 
Wayne himself. Spurring his horse forward, he said, 
“ General, that fellow is marking you. I beg you to go 
back, sir.” 

Wayne glanced carelessly in the direction of the 
bastion. “Nonsense,” said he, “ they dare not fire,” and 
sure enough, almost as he spoke we could see an officer 
striking up the pieces of the men and making the gun- 
ners extinguish the matches which, up to that moment, 
they had held ready over the cannon. 

After a leisurely inspection of the fort, the American 
officers withdrew, and due precautions were taken to 
guard against surprise by any rally on the part of the 
Indians, or their allies. 

Around the British fort, and partly under the protec- 
tion of the guns, there had grown up quite a village, 
including the wigwams, cornfields, storehouses of 
Indians, and the houses and cabins of British agents 
and settlers immediately connected with the military 
post. As the post existed in direct violation to the 
treaty rights of the United States, a clean sweep was 
made of everything up to within “ pistol-shot of Fort 
Miami,” as General Wayne said in his report. 


MIAMI RAPIDS — VICTORY UNDER BRITISH GUNS. IQ/ 

Major William Campbell commanding the British 
garrison found himself, as may be believed, in a diffi- 
cult position. Knowing very well that his post was 
within United States territory, he did not dare to open 
fire upon the American troops who were working such 
destruction under his guns, but he felt bound to pro- 
test against such wholesale destruction as was being 
wrought in spite of the all-powerful flag that floated 
above his ramparts. Accordingly, on August 21, the 
day after the fight, he addressed a letter to General 
Wayne, asking in what light he was to view “such 
near approaches to this garrison.” 

General Wayne replied in substance that in his 
opinion the result of the recent action was a sufficient 
answer, and intimated that as no British post existed at 
the Miami Rapids at the beginning of the war between 
the United States and the Indians, he — General 
Wayne — could not recognize its right to be there at 
all. 

Several other spicy letters to the same purport 
passed between the two officers, and Wayne mean- 
while completed the work of destruction, until every- 
thing within several miles on both sides of the river 
was laid waste. 

Upon this the Indians began to think that they had 
made a mistake, and Buckongahelas, one of their most 


A SOI.DIER OF THE LEGION. 


198 

warlike chiefs, embarked his followers in canoes and 
started up the river past the fort, where he was ordered 
to stop and come ashore. 

“ What have you to say to me ? ” he asked of the 
officer commanding the guard that halted him. 

^‘The commanding officer wishes to speak with 
you,” was the reply. 

“Then he may come here,” answered the chief. 

“ He will not do that,” replied the puzzled officer, 
“ and you will not be permitted to pass unless you 
attend him.” 

“ What shall prevent me ? ” asked the chief. 

“These guns,” replied the Englishman, pointing to 
the cannon that commanded the river. 

“ I fear not your cannon,” answered the defiant 
savage. “ After suffering the Americans to defile your 
spring without daring to fire upon them, you cannot 
expect to frighten Buckongahelas,” and calling to his 
canoemen the paddles dipped again and the whole 
flotilla passed on up the river without a shot, and from 
that time until his death in 1804, he counselled his 
tribe to make friends with the United States and dis- 
trust the British. 

Little Turtle, whose advice had been disregarded a 
few days before, was now listened to with respect, and 
the Indians made haste to retire farther toward the 


MIAMI RAPIDS — VICTORY UNDER BRITISH GUNS. I99 

Mississippi, where it was thought American vengeance 
could not reach them. 

Wayne returned to his camp at Grand Glaize by easy 
marches, laying waste all Indian possessions for fifty 
miles on both sides of the Miami, and meeting With no 
material resistance. Such was the terror inspired 
among the warlike tribes by one encounter with white 
men properly disciplined and officered. 

In all these operations Lieutenant Harrison was 
active, and proved that he was as ready and capable on 
the field of battle, as in the lesser but not less perilous 
operations of scouting and reconnoitring near a be- 
leaguered garrison. His name with those of other 
officers who especially distinguished themselves was 
honorably mentioned by General Wayne in his de- 
spatch to the Secretary of War, announcing the vic- 
tory at Miami-of-the-Lakes. 

Two months and more passed before the news of this 
successful campaign reached London where Mr. Jay, 
the United States minister, was negotiating a treaty 
with Lord Grenville, then at the head of the Govern- 
ment. Private despatches sent by king’s messenger 
must have agreed in substance with the American view 
of the situation, for Mr. Jay was able to secure a treaty 
which brought about the immediate evacuation of all 
British military posts in the disputed territory, and 


200 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


before the end of the year all the tribes that had 
hitherto been quick to seize upon every pretext for 
war with the whites agreed to behave themselves, and 
with due solemnity concluded a treaty which they kept 
as well as could be expected under frontier conditions. 

Several years later new leaders arose who stirred 
up the tribes once more to chant their war-songs, and 
make a fresh effort to resist the westward march of the 
paleface. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


CAPTAIN HARRISON MEETS HIS MATCH. 



ENERAL WAYNE’S work was by no means 


finished when he gave the Indians their lesson 
at Miami Rapids. Only through ceaseless vigilance 
and activity could he hope to keep his crafty foes so 
well in awe of his power that they should not dare 
to renew hostile demonstrations. Moreover, the British 
agents had not yet received notice to discontinue their 
aggressions, and the French were striving by all means 
in their power to provoke an invasion of Louisiana. 

Fort Washington now assumed considerable impor- 
tance as a depot of supplies sent down the river for the 
various American posts, and as a point whence the 
operations of French agents could be advantageously 
watched. It became necessary to appoint some trust- 
worthy officer to take charge of these matters, and 
although General Wayne was reluctant to lose Lieu- 
tenant Harrison’s services on his personal staff, it 
was determined that he was the man for the place. 
He was accordingly promoted captain, and sent to take 
command. 


201 


202 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


His months of training in camp and field under such 
an officer as Wayne had not been thrown away, and 
all the complicated details of managing men and pro- 
viding for the thousand requirements of a small army 
were perfectly familiar to him. 

In addition to maintaining the discipline and effi- 
ciency of the garrison, he was called upon to direct the 
distribution of army stores to the new posts that were 
established as fast as the British withdrew within their 
lawful boundaries. Fort Washington was practically 
an independent command, since instructions and orders 
could only reach it by the slow conveyance of mounted 
messengers, or by rowboats or canoes where water- 
courses could be used. The young captain, therefore, 
had to rely upon himself alone. Like a general officer 
he had of necessity to turn over the management of 
different departments to the best men he could find 
among the officers of the post. Often these failed him 
or proved incompetent, so that he was forced to do the 
work of quartermaster or commissary or ordnance 
officer himself. No civilian can understand how large 
a responsibility all this carries with it, for Uncle Sam, 
young as he was, was very particular then as now 
about every barrel of pork and every box of cartridges 
that was issued to his little army. 

Added to all this the captain had certain affairs of 


CAPTAIN HARRISON MEETS HIS MATCH. 


203 


his own on hand which inclined him to spend more 
of his time than duty permitted at a hospitable log 
mansion down the river at North Bend. Since this 
frontier homestead was first mentioned in this narrative 
it had undergone many changes, and was now perhaps 
the most important private residence below Pittsburgh. 
Indeed, the settlers in the neighborhood looked with 
grave disfavor upon the luxuries introduced by Judge 
Symmes. It was credibly reported that china table- 
ware and steel forks were in daily use on the judge’s 
table, and that the ladies of his family used white 
pocket handkerchiefs, and not infrequently appeared 
at table with starched and ironed linen collars and cuffs. 
Such extravagance somewhat scandalized the rude 
pioneers and their wives, but it has always been the 
way of the world that when the means are forthcoming 
the sons and daughters of men will ever throw sim- 
plicity to the winds. 

However this may be, the homestead at North Bend, 
which I have thus far referred to as “ Fort Symmes,” 
proved very attractive to the young captain command- 
ing at Fort Washington, and as it was often necessary 
for him to go down the river on his official duties, he 
almost always found it convenient or necessary to stop 
there. 

Not that he ever neglected any duty. I have known 


204 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


him to ride resolutely past the house without so much 
as stopping when it was necessary to hurry up some 
lagging train of provisions, or send off some despatch 
to headquarters, and this too in spite of a white hand- 
ke'rchief waved to him from the open door. I am 
forced to admit, however, that Miss Anne Symmes did 
not altogether relish such slights, for so, at the first, she 
was pleased to regard them, but Captain Harrison had 
a way of seizing upon unexpected incidents to justify 
his conduct, and after one of these, which I shall briefly 
relate. Miss Anne never again expressed any wish to 
detain him, though I have many a time seen her turn 
away and press the handkerchief to her eyes after wav- 
ing it to the captain. 

One of the officers of the post, a married man, whose 
young wife was visiting her parents at Pittsburgh, was 
sent to Greenville with despatches. He went on horse- 
back, and as there seemed no need for haste, obtained 
leave to return to his post by way of Pittsburgh, where 
he had permission to stop over for a day. He was not 
ordinarily neglectful of his duty, but the persuasions 
of his silly young wife were too much for him, and he 
ventured, having ridden hard from Greenville, to give 
himself leave to stay over another day, thus unwar- 
rantably extending his leave for twenty-four hours. 

Now, although the Indians were supposed to be 


CAPTAIN HARRISON MEETS HIS MATCH. 205 

pacified, hunting-parties ranged at will through the 
forest, and now and then, when they thought that 
there was no danger of detection, they would waylay 
and murder heedless travellers, and perhaps burn a 
solitary settler’s cabin or so, before the alarm could 
be given and troopers sent to scare them away. Thus 
it happened that the young ensign in question stopped 
at a cabin on his way from Pittsburgh to Fort Washing- 
ton to feed and water his horse and take his own 
necessary midday rest. 

While the settler’s wife was preparing the table for 
dinner, and the young officer was chatting with the 
husband, two Indians sprang into the open doorway 
with ready rifles, and without a word, shot the two 
men dead before they could so much as make a move 
to seize their arms. Then they bound the wife, toma- 
hawked a child or two, whose cries provoked them, 
and helped themselves to all that they wanted. The 
woman and her little babe they placed upon the offi- 
cer’s horse and carried off by secret forest paths to 
their remote villages, setting fire to the cabin when 
they were ready to go. The captives vanished as 
completely as if^ they had been consumed with the 
log walls of their home, and it was not until years 
afterward that they were rescued, and the woman 
sought out Captain Harrison, then in civil life, and 
told her pitiable tale. 


2o6 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


It was, however, only two or three weeks before 
enough was known at the post to show that had the 
young officer been strictly faithful to his duty, he would 
not only have saved his own life, but might also have 
saved the lives of the settler and his children ; for 
the despatches that he carried, unknown to him, con- 
veyed a warning of prowling Indians, which should 
have reached the fort in time to call out a patrol 
that would probably have frightened the savages away 
from their prey. 

Such was the tale that Captain Harrison sadly re- 
lated to the sisters at North Bend. All the victims 
of the raid were known to the Symmes family, for the 
burned cabin stood only twenty miles distant, and that 
was almost a next-door neighbor in those days. 

‘'Now, Anne,” he said, after comments and ques- 
tions had been made and answered, “you have thought 
it very foolish, and perhaps rude, in me more than 
once to ride or row past your door without stopping. 
Will you believe me when I give you my word that 
I have never done so without good reason.? Some- 
times I think I may say I have saved lives by com- 
pelling myself to go on. I beg that you will not make 
it harder for me to do my duty than it is.” 

This last part of the conversation I overheard where 
I sat in the workshop mending a broken saddle-girth. 




il 


SHE WAS SILENT FOR A MOMENT.^' 



CAPTAIN HARRISON MEETS HIS MATCH. 


207 


The two young people had strolled out from the house 
and stopped near the workshop door, not knowing that 
I was within. 

Anne Symmes was, I suppose, as reasonable as most 
girls of her age, but being a girl she could not make 
such an admission as this stern young soldier seemed 
to expect. 

She was silent for a moment, and then in a low v^oice : 
“ Couldn’t you start a little earlier, Captain, when you 
are coming this way ? ” 

“Why, for that matter,” answered Harrison, laughing, 
“ perhaps I could, if I could look ahead far enough.” 

“I don’t care myself,” Miss Anne continued, “but 
father and sister, and the rest of us, like very much 
to have you stop.” 

I do not know what the captain’s reply to this was, 
for I thought I had been listening long enough, so I 
dropped a hammer on the floor, and the two young 
people suddenly discovered something that interested 
them in another direction. 

Later in the day, as we continued our journey. Cap- 
tain Harrison was unusually silent and preoccupied, and 
I, knowing his moods, let him alone. Night was falling 
as we neared the fort, when he said to me : — 

' “ Carol, what would you say, if I should resign from 
the army ? ” 


208 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


“ I should say you were making a great mistake.” 

“Why.?” 

“ Well, you’re a prime favorite with the general, and 
what he recommends is pretty sure to happen. You 
will get your major’s commission as soon as there is a 
chance for it.” 

“ That is true, the general is a good friend of mine. 
Too good, I sometimes think, for it offends my brother 
officers. But you see, Carol, this Indian business is 
over for the present, and I don’t want to stay in the 
service where there is no active work going on.” 

“There will be active work enough in the next 
twenty years to keep you and me busy,” said I. 

“ Perhaps so, but Miss Symmes wants me to re- 
sign.” 

“What concern is it of hers.?” I asked, somewhat 
nettled, for I cannot endure to have women folk med- 
dling with a soldier’s business. 

“ Well, I’ve asked her to be my wife, Carol, and she 
says that she won’t marry me, unless I will promise to 
resign. So you see she has some concern in it.” 

This announcement came upon me so unexpectedly, 
that I quite unintentionally gave my horse a sharp cut 
with a bit of rawhide that I had in my hand, and he 
bounded forward, nearly knocking Captain Harrison out 
of his saddle, for the trail was narrow, and I was riding 


CAPTAIN HARRISON MEETS HIS MATCH. 20g 

behind. I heard him laugh grimly as we dashed past, 
but I was very angry. 

Here was this boy whom I had trained in soldierly 
ways from his babyhood ; here was he throwing up his 
commission for a slip of a girl whom he had only known 
for a year or so, and as I thought sacrificing the best 
prospects of his life, for I verily believed that the army 
was the most honorable of all callings for a young man 
of spirit. 

Moreover, this girl was not equal to him in my esti- 
mation ; for in spite of my own obscure origin I had all 
a Virginian’s pride of family, and looked with a certain 
sense of superiority upon this unpretentious frontier 
maiden who was unworthy, so it seemed to me, to be 
mentioned in the same day with the grand ladies of the 
Old Dominion. 

While thoughts, such as these, chased themselves 
through my brain, I gave old Rupert his head, and he, 
very justly angered by my unprovoked blow, snorted 
and plunged as much as to say, “ If you can’t treat me 
'with decent civility, I’ll shake you off.” So presently 
I came to myself a bit, and asked his pardon in as good 
horse language as was at my command, and he pres- 
ently forgave me as well as he could and “ whickered ” 
a remark to that effect as he settled down to a walk. 
He had carried me a quarter of a mile or so ahead of 


o 


210 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


the captain, when I reined him in and made my peace. 
Then I dismounted and let him crop the grass while I 
smoothed with my hands the welt that I had thought- 
lessly raised upon his side. 

The captain presently rode up, his Kentucky 
thoroughbred “ single footing ” along the trail. By 
this time I had regained my temper and reflected that 
it was the way of the world and of the young men and 
maidens who form such a troublesome part of its popu- 
lation, and I said to myself, “ Carol, don’t you go and 
make a fool of yourself. He will marry her anyhow, if 
he wants to, and you can’t prevent him. You just 
make the best of it.” 

So when he pulled up, laughing, alongside me and 
Rupert, I said to him, “ Will Harrison, I reckon you’re 
right. It took me kind o’ by surprise at first, you see, 
cause your maw and me we’d picked out a gal for you 
down in old Charles City County, but I reckon she 
wouldn’t have you, so maybe it’s just as well for you to 
take what you can get. And as for the army, why, 
that’ll keep. But say, cap’n, you just keep quiet about 
the future.” Harrison’s face flushed when I referred 
to the Virginian girl, for he well knew whom I had 
in mind, but he asked innocently what I meant with 
regard to the future. 

“Why,” said I, “don’t you see.? You promise to 


CAPTAIN HARRISON MEETS HIS MATCH. 


21 


resign now. Well and good ! But don’t for your life 
say anything about not joining again if the Injins 
should go on the war-path, or if the French should 
become too bothersome, or if Johnny Bull should kid- 
nap too many of our sailormen.” 

“ All right, Carol,” said he, “ I will keep my own 
counsel about that. But what will you do ? I can 
probably get you discharged, if you will, and you can 
always be sure of a home with me, you know.” 

“ I allow I’ll keep in the service,” said I. “ I should 
not know how to get along out of it.” 

So with that we came in sight of the fort, and were 
somewhat startled at seeing the flag at half-mast. Harri- 
son reined up at the gate as the guard turned aut and 
presented arms. 

“ Who is it, sergeant ? ” he asked of the non-com- 
missioned officer on duty, an old veteran of the 
Revolution. 

“The major-general commanding, sir,” answered 
the sergeant, sadly. 

“ May God rest his soul,” said Harrison, reverently 
removing his hat, and so we who had approached the 
fort making merry in our diverse ways at the thought 
of a wedding, were confronted by death at the very 
portal. 

During our absence a messenger had arrived bring- 


212 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


ing news of the general’s death at Presque Isle, Penn- 
sylvania. In him Captain Harrison lost a warm friend, 
and I think that even the soldiers who had sometimes 
grumbled at his iron discipline were at heart sincere 
mourners when they were paraded to hear the custom- 
ary order read.^ 

1 Anthony Wayne, better known as “Mad” Anthony, on account of 
his daring, and especially for his gallant capture of Stony Point, New York, 
was born at Easttown, Pennsylvania, January i, 1745. He died Decem- 
ber 15, 1796, at what is now Erie, Pennsylvania. 


CHAPTER XX. 


GOVERNOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST. 

ND in due course they were married, Anne Symmes 



-Cl and William Henry Harrison. The young captain 
of legionaries brought his bride home to his plain 
quarters at the fort, and somehow she found that 
being the “ ranking lady ” in the little garrison was 
not so disagreeable, after all. At any rate the fulfil- 
ment of the promise to resign was not exacted, and 
affairs went on much as before so far as concerned this 
part of the Northwestern Territory. 

The Indians, thanks to Wayne’s administration of 
military affairs, behaved as well as they could, and 
settlers pressed forward into the new lands. Chillicothe 
and Cleveland were settled. The Northwest Territory 
was formally organized with General St. Clair as gov- 
ernor. The Western Reserve was settled, and the 
advance posts of pioneers pushed westward toward the 
Mississippi. 

But clouds were gathering over the young western 
republic. Washington and his advisers saw the storm 


213 


214 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


coming, and Congress was persuaded to order the build- 
ing of six frigates, and in 1797-98 they were launched, 
the finest sailing-ships of their class that ever went off 
the ways. Among them were the Constitution, the 
United States, and the Constellation, names that were 
destined to compel the admiration of the maritime 
world for the mechanical skill, daring, and seamanship 
of American ship-builders and sailors. 

Our friend and commander. General Anthony Wayne, 
died on December 15, 1796, shortly after John Adams 
had been elected to the Presidency, and Washington’s 
farewell address, after his refusal to stand for a third 
term, brought home to the country the fact that its 
founders were growing old and passing away, and on 
June I, 1798, Harrison carried out his long-dreaded 
intention, and resigned his commission in the army. 
He was at once appointed by President Adams to be 
secretary of the Northwestern Territory, and ex officio its 
lieutenant-governor, thus entering upon the career as a 
civil servant that was destined to bring him more dis- 
tinguished honors than he could have won with his sword. 

The new secretary soon found himself face to face 
with problems that involved the interests of his friends, 
the early settlers of the territory under his charge. At 
this time western land speculation was shaping itself so 
as to favor capital rather than individual industry and 


GOVERNOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST. 21$ 

enterprise. The public lands were disposed of in tracts 
of four thousand acres, and no one person could pur- 
chase less. 

Mr. Harrison was one of the first to perceive that 
this law bore heavily upon the hardy pioneers who 
could only secure small sections by purchase at a 
comparatively high price, and as soon as the North- 
west Territory became entitled to representation in 
Congress, Mr. Harrison was elected to represent the 
popular cause. His familiarity with the subject led to 
his appointment as chairman of a committee to investi- 
gate the method of disposing of the public lands, and 
eventually his presentation of the case before Congress 
brought about the passage of the first law that made it 
possible for the poor “homesteader” to secure a title to 
the land upon which he lived, without paying a premium 
to the rich speculator. 

This act, and his subsequent success in securing the 
recognition of military land warrants, brought his name 
so prominently before the public that when it was 
resolved to create the territory of Indiana, petitions 
poured in, urging the President to appoint him as its 
governor. The vast domain then included under the 
name Indiana covered the whole territory west and 
north of the Ohio River, and west even of the Missis- 
sippi itself, excepting only what is now the state of 


2I6 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Ohio. It also embraced for a time the whole of upper 
Louisiana. Of course this wide tract was practically 
without organized government. There were only two 
or three settlements worth mentioning within its limits. 
It was two hundred miles from Vincennes to the 
French posts, in the neighborhood of Kaskaskia on 
the Mississippi, and the intervening regions were the 
hunting-grounds of Indians who had learned only the 
vices of unscrupulous agents and traders. Murders, 
raids, and massacres were of frequent occurrence, and 
little security could be assured to the settlers because 
there were no organized national or state forces to 
enforce respect for law and order. 

The nominal seat of government was at Vincennes, 
on the Wabash, a town whose inhabitants were chiefly 
French, who cared nothing for the United States Gov- 
ernment so long as it did not make a show of power. 
British agents, too, were at work carrying on a profit- 
able trade with the Indians, and seeking to enlist them 
as allies for their schemes of establishing claims to 
more territory than they had a right to. 

When I heard how affairs stood at Vincennes, I 
decided in my own mind that I would rejoin my old 
comrade, as my term of enlistment expired at this 
time. I turned my back upon the army, now enlarged 
and reorganized, mounted my horse, rode through the 


GOVERNOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST. 


217 


debatable land, and presented myself before the 
Governor. 

He was in a room in a small house that served him 
as an office, surrounded by a lot of land claimants, 
Indians, and hangers-on, whose cases he was disposing 
of with his usual promptness and clear-headedness. 
When my turn came, he looked at me without seeing 
me, and said mechanically, “ Well, sir, what can I do 
for you to-day ? ” taking me for some settler who 
wanted his signature to confirm a title. 

I merely stood to attention, saluted, and said, 
“Detailed for orderly, sir.” 

The unexpected answer recalled him from the 
thoughts that were absorbing him, and he looked at 
me with a frown, which gave way instantly to a flush of 
pleasure, and in a moment he had my hand in his and 
with tears in his eyes was welcoming me in boyish 
fashion. 

“ Gentlemen,” said he, addressing the motley assem- 
blage, “this is my old friend. Sergeant Carol Bassett, 
of the First Legion. He carried me in his arms when 
I was a baby. He taught me to ride, and shoot, and 
tell the truth, and let liquor alone. He took me to see 
the surrender at Yorktown, and saved my life more 
than once when the Indians were on the war-path in 
’94, and in the fight at Miami Rapids. He has left the 


2i8 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


service of the nation now, to help in . the new territory, 
and I present him to you as my chief of staff. Let 
him be obeyed and respected accordingly.” 

This speech was, of course, not more than half in 
earnest, but it was taken by those present as law and 
gospel. They all of them, Indians, claimants, and all, 
came forward and shook hands with me, and for a few 
days I found myself quite an object of curiosity in the 
territorial capital. Then I became a sort of secret 
service officer, and I am persuaded that I made myself 
rather useful, for the Governor had abundant call for a 
man of proved courage (if I do say it myself) and whom 
he could trust implicitly. 

If Captain Harrison’s duties at Fort Washington 
were complicated and perplexing, those of Governor 
Harrison at Vincennes were far more so. In due time 
Mr. Jefferson became President, and then he was 
appointed sole commissioner for treating with the 
Indians, an office which he filled with remarkable suc- 
cess, for he had a special gift for inspiring confidence 
in the minds of the savages. 

In 1805, much to Governor Harrison’s relief, the 
territory had sufficiently progressed to entitle it to 
representation in Congress, and to its own legislature. 

While this relieved him in a measure from personal 
responsibility, it did not go far toward solving the ever- 


GOVERNOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST. 


219 


present threat of an Indian uprising. He was the 
uncompromising foe of all who sought to furnish the 
Indians with ‘^fire water,” and a leading British agent 
(Colonel McKee) used this as an argument to stir them 
up to revolt, for said he to them, “ While the Americans 
do not wish you to drink any spirituous liquors . . . 
your father. King George, wishes his red children to 
be supplied with everything they want.” These in- 
trigues, and the rapid extermination of wild game, led 
to many stormy council scenes, at which the Governor’s 
life was often not worth the turn of a straw. 

I well remember one occasion when a council was 
appointed, and I had learned through some of my red- 
skinned friends that an attempt would be made to 
assassinate the Governor. I urged him to send me to 
turn back the tribe, still some miles away, but he said, 
“ No ; muster all the armed men you can, and post them 
in and around the office.” 

There was barely time to collect a small guard, when 
the Indians, four hundred strong, trooped into the 
public square, and their chiefs advanced to meet the 
Governor. 

Mr. Harrison went forward alone to greet them, I 
standing a little behind him with my rifle in the hollow 
of my arm. 

The speech-making had hardly begun, when some- 


220 


A SOLDIER OF TPIE LEGION. 


body in the savage throng yelped like a coyote, and a 
warrior close to the Governor sprang to his feet, flashed 
out his tomahawk, and half uttered the war-whoop, when 
Harrison, with a lightning-like stride laid his hand upon 
his naked arm. 

“My brother,” he said, in a calm, even voice, “you 
know Sergeant Bassett. He has fought you and the 
English many times. His rifle is sure, but so also are 
those that lie ready behind every house and tree within 
sight. Sit down ! ” he commanded in a tone of author- 
ity, and the Indian wavered a moment and then obeyed, 
and the council proceeded to a satisfactory termination. 

I have given the Governor’s words as nearly as I can 
recall them, but it was his manner that worked the 
miracle. It said more plainly than speech, “Foolish 
red man ! See, I fear you not. The whole army of 
the long knives is behind me; I have but to raise my 
hand and five hundred rifles will answer.” 

And so it was in scores of similar instances. Fre- 
quent attempts were made upon his life, but his abso- 
lute fearlessness was a safeguard that no Indian could 
ever master, and as he kept perfect good faith with them, 
he never had to apologize for any broken promises. 

However, not even the best of motives could forever 
stay the warlike spirit of the savage tribes when beyond 
the reach of the Governor’s extraordinary personal influ- 


GOVERNOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST. 


221 


ence, and in 1806, two famous chiefs, or rather a chief 
and a medicine-man, lighted a fire of revolt that speedily 
spread over the whole northwest, and once more com- 
pelled our hero suddenly to resume the profession for 
which he had in boyhood and youth shown such a 
decided preference. 


CHAPTER XXL 


PROPHET AND WARRIOR. 


BOUT the year 1770 twin brothers were born to 



an Indian mother on the banks of the Scioto River 
near Chillicothe. Twenty-five years afterward — during 
Governor Harrison’s administration, that is — they were 
engaged in a plot that was intended to exterminate all 
the whites west of the Ohio. Their names were 
Ellskwatwa, the prophet, and Tecumseh, the warrior.^ 
I have been told that years before this, one Pontiac, an 
Ottawa chief, organized a similar plot for exterminating 
the whites in early colonial times, but of this I know 
nothing personally, and I much doubt if the story ever 
reached the Shawnees of my time. 

The Governor, as I have already said, appointed me 
in an off-hand way his “ chief of staff.” I suppose that 
he was hardly in earnest when he spoke the words, but 
it quite naturally came about that I presently found 
myself commissioned to rove about the country pretty 

1 It is said that a third boy, Kumshaka, was born at the same time, 
but it is believed that he died young. 


222 


PROPHET AND WARRIOR. 


223 


much as I pleased, with general instructions to find out 
all that I could about the doings of the leading chiefs. 

I always had a gift of making friends with the red 
men. They knew me for a fighter and as a hunter, and 
as I always made it a point to keep my word with them, 
they were disposed to treat me well. Many a time 
have I slept securely in the wigwams of warriors who 
would have taken the scalp of almost any other white 
man alive. 

Thus it came about that the Prophet and his warlike 
brother were well known to me, and I was even able to 
hear some of the Prophet’s appeals to his people, and 
witness some of the tricks whereby he sought to 
impress them with his magical powers. These devices 
were ridiculously simple, but he had the knack of pre- 
senting them in a way that carried an air of mystery, 
and appealed to the religious traditions of the race. 

Tecumseh, on the other hand, had early distinguished 
himself on the war-path. He was famous for raids into 
Kentucky, and was so skilful as a leader, and so brave 
in his own person, that he soon became altogether the 
most formidable chief with whom we had to deal. It 
was said that he never retained any of the plunder for 
himself, but gave it all to his followers, being content 
himself with the glory of a warrior s fame. 

The brothers began their operations at a period of 


224 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


peace among the northwestern tribes, the Prophet 
appealing to the religious traditions of his hearers as 
well as to their pride of race, urging them to wear their 
own native costumes and not the cast-off finery of the 
whites, teaching them that fire water ” was an inven- 
tion of the “bad spirit,” and was certain to destroy them 
— body and soul. 

At the first he did not secure many followers, and 
several years passed before he gained any marked suc- 
cess, but he had the perseverance of true genius, and at 
last having converted his own tribe of Shawnees, his 
doctrines began to spread. As their power increased, 
the brothers, like so many of the great conquerors of 
Europe, began to find that opponents were very incon- 
venient, and like them, speedily found ways of removing 
them. 

I myself witnessed the execution of an old chief. 
Tecumseh’s messengers came to him in his wigwam, 
and began to dig a grave before the very door. When 
the old man understood what it meant, he dressed 
himself in full panoply of feathers and war-paint, and 
coming forth, seated himself cross-legged at the head 
of the grave, chanting the death song. When he had 
finished, he leaned his head upon his hands and after 
a short silence a young brave stepped forward, and 
with a tomahawk cleft the victim’s skull. He fell 


PROPHET AND WARRIOR. 


225 


forward upon the ground, and all stood silent until 
he breathed his last. Then he was laid in the grave, 
and the earth thrown in upon him, his squaws alone 
wailing in the wigwam. It was indeed a very impres- 
sive and awesome ceremony. Another white hunter 
was present with me, and we took the earliest possible 
opportunity of slipping away into the forest, and put- 
ting as many miles as possible between us and those 
stern executioners of the terrible brothers. Perhaps 
some tender-hearted reader may say, “Why did you 
not interfere to save the old man’s life ? Governor 
Harrison would have done so had he been in your 
place.” 

Well, possibly he > would. Indeed, I am inclined to 
think he would ; but neither I nor Bradee, my compan- 
ion, were Harrisons, and I make not the least doubt 
that if we had interfered, our graves would have been 
made, and we laid away in them that selfsame night. 

This was in 1807, and I made my way as quickly 
as possible to Vincennes. I had not been home for 
some three months, and although the Governor knew 
indefinitely about the disturbing influences that were 
at work, he had not previously received trustworthy 
accounts from an eyewitness. 

Matters went on in this way from bad to worse. 
The Prophet and Tecumseh made their permanent 


p 


226 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


headquarters at Tippecanoe on the Wabash, and by 
their direction raids were resumed against advanced 
settlements all along the border. Of course there was 
an end to my expeditions into the hostile camps, for 
I should never have come back again. 

Tecumseh himself, with a strong following of com- 
pletely armed warriors, made one or two ceremonial 
visits to Vincennes, and but for the Governor’s per- 
fect fearlessness would no doubt have given the sig- 
nal for a massacre. 

It was not until i8ii that the President gave 
Governor Harrison permission to march against the 
Prophet’s town, and even then he was enjoined not 
to engage in actual hostilities unless it was clearly 
unavoidable. 

Harrison had long ere this exhausted every possible 
means for preserving the peace, and this permission 
was enough. The news was received with joy all over 
the northwest ; for homestead life on the border had 
become unendurable, and with all possible despatch a 
force was collected capable of dealing with the formida- 
ble body of warriors now at the disposal of Tecumseh 
and his brother the Prophet. 

When the call to arms came, the people seemed no 
longer under the spell of terror that held them back a 
few years before. They had learned that under com- 


PROPHET AND WARRIOR. 


227 


petent leaders, the white man was more than a match 
for the redskin. The disastrous defeats of Harmar and 
St. Clair were forgotten since Anthony Wayne had 
trained an army to rely upon bayonet and sabre. 

And here now was a new commander, trained in 
Wayne’s school of tactics, a man who had himself 
fought the Indians from boyhood, but who had, never- 
theless, treated them with careful justice and forbear- 
ance all through his term as governor of the territory. 
There was no lack of volunteers, and the Governor had 
his pick of the younger generation of settlers. 

Brothers,” he said, in his last message to the 
assembled chiefs, “Brothers, — I am myself of the 
Long Knife fire. As soon as they hear my voice, you 
will see them pouring forth their swarms of hunting- 
shirt men, as numerous as the mosquitoes on the 
shores of the Wabash. Brothers, — take care of their 
stings.” 

But in spite of all warnings matters went rapidly 
from bad to worse. Tecumseh and the Prophet made 
pretence of great diligence in seeking to restrain their 
young men, but in reality they were merely gaining 
time and perfecting their organization. The Governor 
saw that it was time to move, and assembled his little 
army at Fort Harrison, a post on the Wabash, some 
sixty miles above Vincennes. 


228 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Here a final attempt was made to bring about a 
peaceful settlement. Some of the Delaware and Miami 
Indians had refused to join the allied forces, and 
through them it was still possible to communicate with 
the hostile chiefs. I was sent early in October with a 
message, demanding the surrender of two Indians who 
had murdered some white settlers, as well as for the 
return of certain horses that had been “fun off” from 
the settlements. The chief danger in such a mission 
was in going from our camp to the friendly villages, for 
scouting-parties of hostiles were likely to be encoun- 
tered anywhere in the forest, but I managed to slip 
through without any trouble worth mentioning, and 
soon persuaded some of my Delaware friends to deliver 
the Governor’s message. 

They returned after an absence of three days pretty 
well frightened with their experience, and glad enough 
to escape with their lives from the terrible one-eyed 
Prophet, who had threatened them with torments un- 
speakable in this world and the next, and had per- 
formed some of his awe-inspiring incantations in their 
presence. 

Their visit was speedily followed by a marked in- 
crease in the number of small war-parties, and the out- 
posts at Fort Harrison were fired upon more than once 
until in the last week of October orders were issued 


PROPHET AND WARRIOR. 


229 


to be ready to march at any moment, and on the 28th 
of the month, the little army moved out toward Tippe- 
canoe, and swift-footed Indian runners carried the news 
through the dark forest trails to the council of war- 
like chiefs. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


VERY NEAR CAPTURE — I SURRENDER AT DISCRETION. 



OVERNOR HARRISON’S force numbered a 


little more than nine hundred men, including 
three hundred and fifty from the Fourth Regulars, and 
one hundred and twenty dragoons. The remainder, a 
little more than five hundred in number, were mainly 
Indiana volunteers, with about seventy volunteers from 
Kentucky. 

The Indians were variously estimated at one thou- 
sand to two thousand strong, but they were certainly 
considerably more numerous than the whites, were 
quite as well armed, and had all of them been made to 
believe by the Prophet that they were under the 
special protection of the Great Spirit, and were invul- 
nerable to the Long Knives’ bullets, because of armlets 
that they wore, which had been blessed by the Prophet. 

The order of march was the same as that adopted by 
General Wayne. The infantry advanced in two col- 
umns, single file, the only possible way for a body of 
men to go through thick woods without being thrown 


230 


VERY NEAR CAPTURE — I SURRENDER. 


231 


into disorder. At the head of each file were two or 
three men, often relieved, whose duty it was to cut off 
branches, and remove from the trail such small ob- 
stacles as would impede the march. 

Probably every one who reads this knows how disa- 
greeable it is to walk through the woods behind another 
person and have branches spring backward with a 
stinging cut across the eyes. Of course a column of 
several hundred men multiplies this by as many times 
as there are men in the column, and as each man loses 
temper more or less every time he is hit, the sum total 
of annoyance is very great, and the spirits of the men 
give out far more rapidly than they would if each had 
nothing to do but swing along at the route, step with 
his piece on his shoulder, and no fear of a switch across 
the face. 

Three or four active fellows could thus keep ahead of 
the column, and without stopping at all, clear a trail 
that was practicable for infantry. So the two long 
lines of men wound along, turning aside here to avoid 
a thick clump of undergrowth and there to clear a 
fallen log. At a signal from the bugle, the leaders of 
the two columns changed direction, marching toward 
each other till they met, while those at the rear of each 
column hastened forward at the ^‘double,” drawing 
together till they, too, met, when the whole body 


232 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


halted at a second bugle call and faced outward, forming 
an irregular square ready for attack from any side. 

While on the march the dragoons and mounted 
rifles acted as scouts and flankers, and when the signal 
form square ” was sounded, they galloped in and 
took position within the infantry lines, where they were 
ready for instant service, and could play their part to 
advantage in any engagement. 

General Harrison, however, had no intention of being 
caught napping. He caused a trail to be opened on the 
south side of the river, and after following it for a few 
miles, crossed the stream and followed its northern bank. 
This, no doubt, defeated the plans of the Prophet, who 
had counted upon his taking a different route. 

The advance encountered no opposition for several 
days. So quiet were the Indians, indeed, that it was 
feared that they had resolved to attack the settlements, 
in the absence of the army, and a detachment was sent 
back to reenforce Vincennes. 

The main body, however, pushed forward without 
hindrance, and on the evening of November 5th had 
arrived within ten miles of Tippecanoe, having crossed 
Pine Creek at a point where the Indians were not look- 
ing for it, thus avoiding certain well-known places where 
American troops had come to grief more than once in 
previous years (1786 and 1790). j 


VERY NEAR CAPTURE — I SURRENDER. 


233 


As I have said, we saw nothing of Indians during 
this march, and when we halted for the noonday rest 
the Governor, noticing a slight elevation near the 
bivouac whence he thought he could obtain a look at 
the surrounding country, called me to accompany him, 
and we cantered away followed by two of the mounted 
Kentucky rifles whom the captain of the troop sent 
after us without orders. The Governor was for sending 
them back when he noticed that we were followed, 
but I dissuaded him, thinking that at least their 
presence would do no harm. 

Reaching the crest of the bluff, we saw another 
beyond, still higher, and the Governor was immediately 
seized with a desire to go a little farther. 

I asked him to let me ride forward and reconnoitre, 
and not waiting for permission touched my horse with 
my heel, and pretending not to hear his recall, dashed 
down the slope, leapt a little gully half filled with 
bushes, and in less time than it takes to tell it was 
at the top of the other bluff. 

A glance at the ground told me that Indians had 
been there within the hour, and as I raised my arm to 
wave the Governor back — he was already descending 
the farther slope with his escort — an arrow hissed 
past my ear between my head and my raised arm, and 
I could now see that the gully which I had just crossed 


234 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


concealed a score or more of Indians, some of them 
watching me, and others with rifles half poised peering 
through the screen of bushes at the little party on the 
slope of the first bluff. 

We were now quite out of sight from the main body 
of troops, and might all of us have been picked off by 
sharpshooters without alarming our friends, for the 
wind came from the camp, and the report of firearms 
might well have failed to reach their ears. 

The Governor was well known by sight to most of 
the northwestern Indians, and it was indeed a wonder 
that some impatient young brave did not improve the 
opportunity to kill him out of hand, but it appeared 
afterward that the Prophet had strictly charged his 
braves not to fire a shot until the Americans had been 
led into one or another of the many ambuscades which, 
like a good general, he had prepared for them in his 
plan of campaign. 

The Governor saw my signal of warning, and reined 
in his horse, the two Kentuckians spurred up beside 
him, and sat with ready rifles in their saddles. 

“What is it, Carol.?” The wind brought the words 
to me plainly enough, though I doubted if I could shout 
back so as to be heard. 

Now the Governor and I, as far back as the days of 
the old First Legion, had established a code of signals. 


VERY NEAR CAPTURE — I SURRENDER. 


235 


Two semicircular sweeps of the right arm meant 
“Danger!” and these I gave with emphasis, at the 
same time shouting as loud as I could : — 

“Nothing here, sir. No use to come.” I had re- 
mained on my horse at the crest of the bluff, not 
daring to move until the Governor was out of danger. 
I now had the satisfaction of seeing him and his escort 
turn their horses and ride back to the hill-top, where 
I knew they were in full view of the troops. 

Then they pulled up to wait for me, and what was 
I to do ? I was so nearly surrounded by the red men 
— the woods were alive with them at the rear and 
sides of the bluff — that a dash for freedom was hope- 
less, so I sat still. 

The Governor beckoned me to come on, but I shook 
my head, and, signalling him to go back to camp, turned 
my horse’s head and walked him down the bluff out 
of sight in the other direction. I may as well own 
now, after all these years, that I thought I was riding 
to my death. I knew that the Indians had me at 
their mercy, but it might be that they would let me 
pass, or, at all events, would not kill me on the 
spot. 

I had not gone more than twenty paces from the 
crest when, at some signal unheard by me, a hundred 
or more Shawnee braves, in the hideousness of war- 


236 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


paint, rose from bunches of grass, stepped out from 
behind trees, uncoiled themselves from burrows, and 
stood silently around me with savage exultation on 
their faces. 

In an instant I recognized the Prophet himself, and 
thanked my stars that I had fallen into his hands, for 
he was a great chief, and I felt sure that he would 
not have me put to the torture on the spot, as some 
less powerful leader might have done, just to afford his 
braves a little pleasurable excitement. 

He strode forward, as fine a specimen of the North 
American Indian as ever wore moccasins, and, halting 
in the edge of the timber, motioned me to come to 
him. I dismounted, hung my rifle and accoutrements 
upon the saddle-horn, and, leaving the horse to follow 
me as I had trained him to do, walked forward as 
boldly as I could toward where the chief stood, with 
folded arms, and no very friendly expression upon his 
countenance. 

I well knew him for a soldier at heart, and familiar 
with army manners and customs. Accordingly I 
marched forward to the saluting distance of four paces, 
came to attention, with my right hand at my cap. 

“General Harrison’s compliments,” said I. “He 
asks if the Prophet and Tecumseh are still determined 
to fight. His army of Long Knives is ready, but if his 


VERY NEAR CAPTURE — I SURRENDER. 237 

brothers will bury the hatchet, he still hopes that there 
may be peace.” 

As I finished this audacious little fable, which of 
course I invented in sheer desperation, my horse 
walked up behind me and put his nose over my shoul- 
der, pricking his ears forward, and seeming to regard 
the tall Indians with undisguised curiosity. 

“ The general,” I went on, “ begs you to accept this 
horse and his equipments, as an evidence of his good 
will, and he has sent me, the oldest member of his body- 
guard, to show his confidence in your honor.” 

Now I guessed that the chief did not yet know how 
nearly Harrison had fallen into his hands. I had come 
by a short cut, as it were, and I did not believe that 
any messenger had as yet brought him word around the 
base of the bluff of what had transpired beyond. 

I was right in this, but the Prophet did not need to 
be told that I was making up a story to save time. 

‘‘ My brother lies,” he said, with the direct simplicity 
of a savage. “ He is my prisoner, and his horse and 
arms are mine to do what I will with. He has ridden 
into my camp as a spy. He shall suffer the death of a 
spy.” 

“The Prophet is a great chief,” I answered. “He can 
do what he will with General Harrison’s messenger, but 
the messenger comes not as a spy. He sees no camp 


238 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


here — only a few warriors who have arms in their 
hands, and are as if upon the war-path. He comes 
simply to ask once more for peace in the White Father’s 
name. If the Prophet does not believe this, let him send 
a messenger to General Harrison and ask. The Proph- 
et’s messenger will not be held as a prisoner.” 

This last hint at superior good faith on the part of 
the white man seemed to appeal to the chief’s sense of 
honor. He said a few words to some of his followers, 
and two armed Indians took charge of me while a third 
led my horse away, and to my great sorrow I saw him 
no more. 

I was led back into the woods, and after an hour’s rest 
we moved on silently, following, as I was confident, the 
line of Harrison’s march, but at some distance to one 
side of it, so as to be out of the way of flanking parties. 


CHAPTER XXIIL 


A GHOST DANCE, AND A FLAG OF TRUCE. 

T about the hours when civilized troops are halted 



for the night, a Shawnee runner met the party 
that had charge of me, and we turned aside into the 
woods, soon reaching an open glade, when we found 
the Prophet and several of the leading chiefs, many 
of whom were personally known to me. I was led 
toward them, and the Prophet called his counsellors 
around him. 

They stood on both sides of him in a semicircular 
group, and after my guards had placed me in front of 
this formidable tribunal I was left standing alone and 
unfettered. The thought of a dash for liberty passed 
through my mind, but was dismissed at once as utterly 
hopeless, and I nerved myself to meet whatever fate 
might have in store. 

Many a time have I stood in deadly peril of my life, 
but never, I think, did I feel more sick at heart than 
when I faced this savage court. Long intercourse with 
Indians had taught me the value of a bold front, and I 


239 


240 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


summoned all my resolution to retain at least an 
appearance of fearlessness. 

Beginning at one end of the line, I looked each man 
in turn straight in the eyes, striving to put as much 
defiance into my own glance as I could. How I wished 
just then that I possessed General Harrison’s power 
of enforcing his will by mere presence, as I had often 
seen him do at stormy councils where in most instances 
one or more of these very chieftains had been present. 
One or two of them dropped their eyes as they met 
mine. They were men with whom I had “eaten salt,” 
in whose wigwams I had sometimes been sheltered, and 
upon the whole I gained courage from the survey. 

After a glance at the Prophet, a sudden resolve came 
upon me like an inspiration. No word had as yet been 
spoken, and I determined to have the opening speech, 
yet without saying a single word. 

Deliberately I began to roll up the sleeve of my hunt- 
ing shirt, baring my left arm to the elbow, and dis- 
playing in full view of my judges the tattooed emblem 
that I mentioned in the first chapter of this narrative. 
In rolling up the sleeve I naturally turned my arm from 
side to side, so that none of the on-lookers could fail to 
observe the token. This done, I folded my arms like 
the commanding officer at evening parade, and fixed my 
gaze full upon the Prophet. 



I FOLDED MY ARMS . . . AND FIXED MY GAZE FULL UPON 

THE PROPHET.” 











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A GHOST DANCE, AND A FLAG OF TRUCE. 24 1 

This was my wordless opening speech, and I could 
see that it was not without its effect. The Prophet was 
wrapped from head to foot in his medicine robe of deer- 
skin, smoke-tanned, after the Indian fashion, and 
embroidered with all sorts of outlandish devices in 
porcupine quills and bead-work. I had noticed when 
my eyes first fell upon this robe, that a device in blue 
was frequently repeated, which might easily be taken 
for the very same mark that I bore upon my arm, and 
the inspiration had come with the discovery that I 
might turn the fact to my own advantage. 

I am bound to say that the Prophet returned my 
defiant stare with a fair show of being able to hold his 
own, but I determined not to waver, though I was con- 
scious, noting it out of the “tail of my eye,” as the 
saying is, that my action in displaying the token had 
its effect upon the assembled braves. 

At length after what seemed an interminable length 
of time, the Prophet spoke: “What does the dog of a 
paleface seek in the red man’s hunting-ground ? ” 

I looked at him, if possible, more sternly than before, 
for a moment, then said respectfully: “Tecumseh is a 
warrior. He has never called the paleface names. 
Tecumseh’s brother, the Prophet, wears a robe with 
the white man’s totem upon it. Let him look ! ” 
With that I stretched out my arm with the tattoo 
Q 


242 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


mark plainly exposed so that all could see, and those 
of the chiefs who could understand me, for I spoke in 
English, craned their necks and compared the mark on 
my arm with the decorations on the Prophet’s robe. 

In truth they were not so very much alike, but once 
attention being called to the resemblance, they were 
certainly enough alike “ for political purposes.” 

“ The paleface has stolen the Prophet’s totem. To 
copy a totem is child’s work,” and he began to sing one 
of his medicine songs, for he had learned that incan- 
tations delivered in a sort of sing-song recitative were 
very powerful aids in retaining his influence over his 
superstitious followers. 

With that, I too began to sing, striking up the first 
tune that came into my head, which chanced to be the 
‘‘Old Hundredth.” I had rather the best of the 
Prophet in the matter of voice, and the swing and 
rhythm of the grand old melody were not lost upon my 
red-skinned hearers. Their attention wavered, and the 
untitled braves, who had heretofore kept in the back- 
ground, began to come forward step by step, until I 
should think something like two hundred of them were 
standing around us listening with all their ears, and 
when I struck the third stanza I began to turn slowly 
round and round, keeping my left arm extended so 
that all could see the totem, while with my right I 


A GHOST DANCE, AND A FLAG OF TRUCE. 243 

made the most mysterious gesticulations that I could 
invent. 

Of course this was interpreted by the Indians as 
some sort of a ghost dance, and so plainly were wonder 
and awe stamped upon their countenances that I could 
hardly sing properly, for the desire to laugh was upon me. 
The Prophet of course knew that all this was the baldest 
sort of rubbish, for nobody knows humbug of this kind 
when he sees it better than an Indian soothsayer. But 
the situation was new, and he did not quite see how to 
meet it and still retain his influence. 

So at last, almost out of breath with singing all the 
stanzas that I could remember over and over again, I 
waltzed up to the chiefs and held out my hands toward 
them. “ Behold the sign of brotherhood,” said I, “ I 
bear it on my skin — the Prophet on his robe. Send me 
with trusted messengers to the White Father, General 
Harrison, that I may tell him that his red children do 
not want war, but peace.” 

Either because of this ridiculous dance of mine, 
or on account of the similarity of the totems, such a 
favorable impression was made upon the Indians that 
the Prophet was afraid to strain his authority, and 
I presently found myself handed over to three Shawnee 
warriors, who struck off through the woods at a rapid 
pace, and in a short time we came out in full sight of 


244 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Tippecanoe, the Prophet’s town. It stood upon a 
slight eminence that rose above the prairie, and you 
may be sure that I made note, as well as I could, of 
all the approaches, in the expectation that an attack 
upon it might speedily be made. 

We soon left it behind, however, and in a few 
minutes more came in sight of General Harrison’s head- 
quarters flag flying over a very business-like looking 
little army halted on the prairie, with videttes posted 
well out on all sides, and the men lying about at ease, 
but ready to take arms at a moment’s notice. 

We were seen at once, and by the time we reached 
the nearest outpost, two or three mounted officers were 
riding out to meet us. I soon recognized the tall form 
of my general, who had, I was sure, been very anxious 
on account of my failure to rejoin the command. He 
had more important business on hand now, however, and 
we merely exchanged glances, while the usual palaver 
took place between him and the Indian messengers. 

They had been instructed, of course, to ask why 
the Americans were thus advancing upon their peace- 
ful town, where the pious Prophet and his brother were 
dwelling in such an exemplary manner ; and General 
Harrison bravely replied that he had no intention of 
attacking such an amiable community, but was merely 
looking for a good place to encamp for the night. 


A GHOST DANCE, AND A FLAG OF TRUCE. 245 

The Indians were kind enough to give him some 
excellent advice with regard to this, and, indeed, 
offered to guide him to a place where there was wood 
and water in abundance, and the general, after thank- 
ing them kindly, said that he knew the place and would 
consider their friendly suggestion. 

This was all very well for the “high contracting 
powers,” but I was in a state of mind, indeed ; for, in 
the course of the talk, it had come out that the 
Prophet had told his messengers that they must bring 
me back as a hostage. I saw in a moment that this 
meant death for me unless something most unforeseen 
occurred, but it would not do to show the slightest 
fear. It was a shrewd move on the Prophet’s part ; for 
if Harrison refused to let me return to the Indian 
camp, he would say to his followers, “The paleface 
does not trust me,” whereas, if he let me go, he might, 
in all likelihood, never see me alive again. 

I knew very well that he was in great perplexity, 
but I knew also that his personal feelings would not 
be allowed to influence him where a question of duty 
was concerned. 

“Orderly,” he said, turning to a mounted trooper 
behind him, “bring me that flag.” The man rode 
forward and handed him a white flag rolled upon its 
staff. “Sergeant Bassett,” he continued, “you will 


246 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


bear this flag of truce to Tecumseh and tell him that 
while it is in his camp I will not attack the town 
unless he first attacks me. He knows that I have 
never treated his messengers with disrespect, and 
that soldiers always reverence a white flag and its 
bearer.” The general did not know as yet that the 
great Indian warrior was absent on one of his forages 
to the south. 

This gave me to understand that I was to return 
once more to where I might be brained from behind 
at any moment by some irrepressible young brave, 
who knew not a flag of truce from a cavalry guidon, 
and I confess that, for the first time in my life, I 
doubted for a moment whether the Governor cared 
two straws for my fate. 

However, he now rode away a few paces from his 
escort and requested the messengers to talk with 
him privately for a moment. They remained in earn- 
est consultation for a time, and then dismissing them, 
the Governor beckoned me to his side. ‘‘ Carol,” 
said he, grasping my hand, “ I cannot tell you how 
I suffered on your account after you disappeared this 
morning. Tell me in the fewest words what happened.” 

So I related my adventures, not failing to impart 
all that I had gathered regarding the town and its 
defences, adding that I believed the Indians were 


A GHOST DANCE, AND A FLAG OF TRUCE. 24/ 

determined to fight, and that if I went back to their 
camp I should never leave it alive. 

He then told me that he had been talking to the 
messengers about the sacredness of a flag of truce in 
the eyes of the Great Spirit, and had ended by prom- 
ising each of them a white man’s horse, and a new 
beaver hat, if I was allowed to return at once with 
the flag. Now a beaver hat was at that time the 
proudest adornment that an Indian could wear, and 
taken in connection with a large horse constituted 
almost untold wealth in his eyes. 

The Governor was in my opinion too much given 
to trusting in the honor of his Indian foes, but I re- 
flected that he had generally come out ahead in his 
negotiations with them. So I bade him good by 
with as good a grace as I could muster, rejoined my 
escort, unfurled my white flag, and turned my back 
upon the Stars and Stripes without any definite hopes 
of ever seeing them again. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


A “reserved seat” at TIPPECANOE. 

HE bugles sounded as we took our way westward, 



A and within ten minutes the little army of Ameri- 
cans was swinging off across the prairie, bound as I 
guessed toward a “bench ” or low ridge of prairie land 
which I had previously noted as affording a good camp- 
ing-ground. I took a last look at them as we topped 
the bluff, and saw the long lines ‘of sloped arms and 
the polished brazen helmets of the dragoons. My 
messengers could not help halting for a moment to 
watch the unaccustomed sight, and we four stood 
together in plain relief against the evening sky — I 
waving my flag from side to side in farewell. I was 
told afterward that the colors were dipped in response, 
but I suppose there must have been something in my 
eyes — at all events, I saw no sign of recognition, and 
we presently went on our way, reaching the town when 
it was too dark for me to see much beyond the dark 
shapes of warriors, squaws, and children, and the 
pointed roofs of rude wigwams. 


248 


A “RESERVED SEAT” AT TIPPECANOE. 


249 


I was taken at once to the chiefs house, where I 
delivered my message, and said that I would now return 
at once to General Harrison’s camp. 

The Prophet and his chiefs did not so much as ex- 
change glances, and I inferred accordingly that they 
had laid their plans for any event. “ Not so,” said the 
Prophet ; “my young men are weary with following the 
white man’s trail.” I at once offered to find my own 
way to camp, but the Prophet hinted that there were 
“bad Indians” in the woods who might waylay and kill 
me if I went without escort ; so I was sent to a wig- 
wam close at hand and lay down with my flag at my 
side and three armed warriors as companions and 
guards. 

I was dead tired, and dropped off to sleep almost as 
soon as my head touched the roll of buffalo hide that 
served as a pillow. It seemed to me only a few min- 
utes, though it was in reality several hours afterward, 
that I was roughly shaken, and opened my eyes to see 
the sinister face of the Prophet bending over me 
dimly lighted by a red glow from the coals that glowed 
brightly in the fire-pit. 

“Come,” he said, “it is time for the paleface to 
return to his own people.” 

I arose, shook myself wide awake, and followed him 
into the chill night. I could see from the position 


250 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


of the morning star that midnight was well past, and 
quickly gathered from the remarks that I heard, for I 
was familiar with the Shawnee tongue, that the long 
moving lines of dusky savages were bound upon a 
night attack. 

The movement had evidently been in progress for 
some time, but several hundred braves passed the place 
where I and the Prophet stood, before he gave the 
word to follow. In the meantime, a group of squaws, 
whispering and chattering among themselves very much 
as their white sisters occasionally do, had gathered near 
us ; and I learned by putting this and that together, 
that the Prophet had turned the totem incident to his 
own advantage by proclaiming that a certain lost totem 
had been found in the emblem pricked upon my arm, 
and that victory was certain now that the tale of totems 
was complete, and in the Indian camp. 

My return with the flag had, therefore, been inter- 
preted as a sign from the Great Spirit, that an attack 
must at once be made, and the Prophet was even now 
marshalling his dusky braves for the onslaught. 

Of course, I determined to make a break for the 
American lines at the first opportunity, and as soon as 
we came within sight of our camp-fires I began to 
watch my chance. I was presently left alone with the 
Prophet and his body-guard, who moved forward till it 


A “RESERVED SEAT” AT TIPPECANOE. 25 I 

seemed to me the glow of the fires was scarcely more 
than a stone’s throw distant. I thought of various 
plans for alarming the camp, but none of them seemed 
feasible, and I was not quite prepared to sacrifice my 
life on the spot by giving the war-whoop. 

We paused beside a little mound, made by a fallen 
tree, which partly sheltered us at once from sight and 
from stray shots. The morning star had climbed up 
the eastern sky till I judged it must be about four 
o’clock, and nearly time for reveille. I could catch 
glimpses of it now and then through rifts in clouds, 
that occasionally sent down a few drops of drizzling rain. 

It was a dismal morning, and its cheerfulness was not 
particularly enhanced for me by the fact that I was so 
near my comrades, and yet unable to let them know 
that the wild, red warriors of the northwest were lying 
hidden in the darkness all around them, and only wait- 
ing for a signal to begin their attack. 

I was very sure that Harrison was on the alert at 
this hour, for I well knew his habits when in the field, 
and I even fancied that I could hear the sergeant of the 
guard shaking up the sleepy drummer-boy to sound 
reveille. 

My suspense was not long, however, for instead of 
the familiar rattle of the drums there came a quick 
shot, followed by the war-whoop, then more shots and 


252 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


blood-curdling yells came rising from the dark prairie all 
around the white man’s encampment. 

The outermost pickets of course fired at anything 
they could see and broke for the main lines, where I 
could see, by the dim glow from their camp-fires, that the 
men were forming up in good shape. The remaining 
embers of the fires were quickly scattered, however, and 
all was dark save for the momentary flash of rifles and 
musketry ; compact and unceasing along the American 
front, — scattered and irregular, and backed by yells 
and whoops along that of the Indians. 

Our position on the little mound, of which I have 
spoken, was naturally in the rear of the Indian advance, 
and the American bullets made frequent and not very 
agreeable music about our ears. By the dim light of 
dawn, I saw one after another of the Prophet’s escort 
steal away to join in the fight, while he, the Prophet, 
took his stand upon the mound, grasping his medicine- 
staff. With his official robe wrapped about him, he 
began chanting one of his weird ghost songs, to encour- 
age the fighting contingent. I began to think that all 
his escort would desert him and that I should have a 
chance to knock him on the head with my flagstaff, 
which I still held. I made myself as small as possible 
so as not to stop anything that might be flying about 
at that early hour, and bided my time. 


A “RESERVED SEAT” AT TIPPECANOE. 


253 


I really think that the Prophet, arrant humbug as he 
was and knew himself to be, worked up a sort of 
genuine inspiration at times, and this was one of them. 
As the light increased, he began to turn slowly around 
and about, and with an apparent method in his madness, 
advanced in the wake of the Indian line of battle, for- 
getting about me altogether. There were only three of 
the escort left now, and when the Prophet found another 
station a little nearer the front, they consulted together 
and sprang toward me, evidently intending to settle my 
account with their silent knives, and then join in the 
more congenial and exciting warfare that was waging so 
briskly close at hand. 

Remembering how well “ Old Hundredth ” had served 
me a few hours before, I threw myself flat on my back 
and simulated a sort of convulsion, at the same time 
striking up the hymn with the best voice I could 
muster. 

The savages paused, evidently remembering what the 
Prophet had told them about my totem, and the magical 
effect that was promised from having it in their line of 
battle. Then one of them spoke in an authoritative tone, 
and whipped out a coil of buffalo-hide thongs from his 
belt. I was promptly rolled over, still singing, and in 
a trice was securely bound, hand and foot. 

Without taking the trouble to turn me right side up 


254 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


again, the Indians joyfully yelped out their war-cries 
and darted away, leaving me the sole occupant of my 
little mound, and glad enough to be rid of them. I cut 
short “ Old Hundredth ” as soon as I was left alone, and, 
rolling over on my back, soon wriggled into a position 
where, by raising my head, I could still judge something 
of the fight. 

It was now so light the puffs of smoke showed more 
than did the flash of powder. The minor prophets’ 
assistants were rattling deer-hoofs in empty gourds, 
and I could still hear the great Prophet’s voice chanting 
in the distance. As the savages had not carried the 
American position in the darkness by mere force of 
numbers, I was well assured that the tide of battle would 
soon turn in favor of the whites, for I knew that 
Harrison would call for bayonets and sabres, just as 
soon as there was daylight enough to distinguish an 
Indian from a brier-bush. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


EXIT THE PROPHET. 

I N my constrained and still dangerous position, I lay 
making myself as small as I might, so that when the 
Indians gave way, as I was sure they would do before 
the American bayonets, I might perhaps be overlooked. 
With my ear close to the ground I could hear better 
than if I had been standing up, and presently detected 
the tramp of horses passing off toward the flank ; the 
dragoons were undoubtedly moving so as to break up 
the Indians in one direction, while the infantry as- 
saulted them from another. 

The dragoons, however, were not able to do much 
execution, for daylight came on apace, as they strove to 
make their way through a morass, and without waiting 
for them to charge, the American infantry sprang to 
their feet when General Harrison gave the word and 
rushed forward with a cheer. 

They found nothing save dead and wounded waiting 
for them. The Indians broke and fled on all sides, and 
hardly had the first cheer of our men died away, when I 

255 


256 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


was aware of silent figures flitting past me, and was in 
mortal dread lest some one of my escort should remem- 
ber me and lift my scalp in passing, as he might easily 
have done, for I was quite defenceless. One of them 
did, in fact, hurl his tomahawk at me as he ran by, but 
the line of bayonets was so close behind him that his 
aim was uncertain. The handle instead of the deadly 
blade struck me on the head, a stunning but not dan- 
gerous blow, and in a few moments I was aware of 
friendly hands that cut the thongs at my wrists. I was 
once more at liberty, and able after a few moments to 
make my way unaided to headquarters, where I found 
General Harrison in the act of recalling his troops 
from the pursuit which they were disposed to press to 
the town itself, which was only a few hundred yards 
distant. He welcomed me in a way that went far to 
restore my love for him, which I confess had received a 
severe strain when he had so coolly suffered me to be 
led back to the Prophet’s camp. As usual, however, 
his judgment had proved correct, for the Prophet had 
kept faith after a fashion, and at any rate here I was in 
the American camp again, none the worse except for a 
temporarily broken head, with the scalp remaining on 
top of it, as good as ever. 

It was the part of prudence not to suffer the pursuit 
to be carried too far, as the Indians would, no doubt. 


EXIT THE PROPHET. 


257 


rally for the defence of their town. So the recall was 
ordered, and the men had their breakfast, after which 
they were told to fortify the camp and bury the dead, of 
whom they were fifty, including Colonel Owens the 
general’s aid. Captains Spencer and Warwick, and 
several other gallant officers. The general himself 
narrowly escaped death at the hands of several Indians, 
who had apparently been detailed to kill him, and who 
with desperate courage broke through the American 
lines only to meet their death at the hands of the 
reserves and of the general’s body-guard. Thirty- 
eight Indians were found dead upon the field, and how 
many more died of their wounds was never known. 

As soon as breakfast was over fatigue parties were 
set at work to fortify our camp, so that we could 
more easily hold our own in case of another attack. 
This occupied the whole of the day — November 7; 
and in watching the Prophet’s town, which was only 
about three-quarters of a mile distant, we could see 
the Indians strengthening their defences, squaws work- 
ing with the braves, and even the children lending a 
hand, but there was no sign of a desire to open 
negotiations for an armistice, and we had done all 
that was consistent in that line. 

About the middle of the afternoon the general called 
for a volunteer scout to ride forward and reconnoitre, 


258 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


and as I had fully recovered my senses by this time, 
I at once offered to go, provided I could get a horse, 
mine having been taken by the Prophet. To my great 
satisfaction, the general directed that I should be given 
poor Colonel Owen’s Kentucky thoroughbred, one of 
the best horses in the whole detachment, and I rode 
off in good spirits, following a great circle that carried 
me well off to the right, so that I could turn and ride 
along the hostile front at a safe distance, and get 
some idea of what they were about. 

When I had gone within what I judged to be long 
rifle range, I turned sharply to the left, and touching 
up my horse to the swift lope for which Kentucky 
horses have ever been famous, we cantered over the 
brown autumnal grass as comfortably as possible. 
Some of the Indian sharpshooters could not resist 
taking a crack at me from their log stockades, and I 
must acknowledge that they sent their bullets uncom- 
fortably near, to judge from the whispering that they 
made in my ears. 

It appeared, however, that, unbeknown to me, there 
were advanced outposts hidden in the grass, and I 
almost rode one of them down, my horse sheering so 
suddenly that it nearly unseated me. The Indian was 
quite as much frightened as I, and only recovered him- 
self enough to send an arrow after me, which passed 


EXIT THE PROPHET. 


259 


through the loose folds of my buckskin hunting-shirt, 
and still remained hanging there when I rode up to 
headquarters to make my report, for I thought that I 
might as well allow it to remain in place as a sort of 
certificate of good behavior. Indeed, so many of the 
officers asked me for it as a curiosity that it suddenly 
acquired such a value in my eyes that I determined to 
keep it myself, and as I sit in my old age writing out 
these reminiscences, the arrow hangs upon the wall 
over the fireplace, with my hunting-knife, powder-horn, 
and rifle, and other trophies of a dozen Indian cam- 
paigns and of two wars with Great Britain. 

The Prophet’s followers had got enough of it for 
once, and let us alone that night. 

On the next day, November 8, 1811, there was an 
ominous stillness in Tippecanoe. Not a sign of life 
could we see when day dawned, and the scouts were 
at once sent forward to investigate. We rode straight 
into the town and through it, finding a broad trail 
across the prairie, where the allied tribes had struck out 
for the Mississippi, with such of their belongings as 
they could by any means carry with them. It is a 
great wonder that the Prophet escaped with his life, 
for the campaign was his doing. Tecumseh, his more 
warlike brother, was, as I have already said, absent 
in the south, and had gone away with the understand- 


26 o 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


ing that peace was to be maintained until his plans 
were more fully perfected. The Prophet, however, in 
the pride of his heart, had convinced the Indians that 
they were bullet-proof, — perhaps he half believed it 
himself, — and, carried away by zeal, he provoked the 
conflict that ended so disastrously for his cause. 

Prophets, however, have a way of explaining their mis- 
takes, — that is a part of their profession, — and I have 
noticed that some of the other learned professions are 
much given to the same thing. Indeed, I think we are 
all very much readier to explain and excuse our own 
mistakes than we are the mistakes of others. 

The Prophet, at any rate, so I was afterward told, 
fell back upon my unpretentious totem to set himself 
right with his followers, declaring that the totem ought 
to have been cut off from my arm and stitched upon 
his magic robe, an operation which would of course not 
have been particularly agreeable to me, however it 
might have affected the result of the battle. 

The town was wholly deserted, and we quickly sig- 
nalled the fact to the general, who forthwith galloped 
over with his staff, and by nightfall nothing remained of 
the Indian stronghold, the general deeming it best to 
destroy everything, as all our wagons would be needed 
to transport the wounded to the Wabash, where they 
could be placed in boats. 


EXIT THE PROPHET. 


261 


Not only was it necessary to destroy the town, but 
all personal baggage had to suffer a like fate, and the 
general set the example to his officers by ordering his own 
camp equipage to be burned. This caused a good deal 
of grumbling, but in sight of the general’s example there 
was nothing to be said, .so everybody made shift to do as 
well as he could with nothing save what he could carry. 

So we marched back to Vincennes, and in December 
several chiefs came in to declare for peace, being influ- 
enced thereto by an earthquake, which was felt over a 
wide tract of country on the i6th of the month, and by 
March, 1812, all excepting the Shawnees had signified 
their willingness to make almost any terms for the sake 
of peace. This result was brought about largely 
through the influence of Little Turtle, a chief who has 
been mentioned before as the advocate of peace with 
the white man, and whose influence might have been 
still more effectual but for his death at Fort Wayne in 
July, where he was buried by the garrison with the 
honors of war. The peaceful professions of the chiefs 
were not all that could be wished, for they were at the 
same time engaged in negotiations with British agents, 
who knew very well that the two countries were fast 
drifting into war, and wished to engage as many savage 
allies as could be furnished with arms and ammunition 
to use against the Americans. 


262 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


Tecumseh and his brother were prominent at a coun- 
cil with Colonel Elliot, the British agent at Malden, in 
May, and with several other chiefs pledged their ad- 
herence to the British cause. Some of the chiefs, 
notably one named “ Walk-in-the-water,” upbraided the 
British for their conduct at Fort Miami in 1794, and 
would have nothing to do with any treaty that 
threatened to set them at war again with the Ameri- 
cans who had proved to be such terrible foes. 

So ended the Indian war of 1811, but peace was 
not yet assured to the Republic, for England could 
not forget that the United States had once been her 
colonies. 


CHAPTER XXVL 


WAR WITH ENGLAND, 



CARCELY was the Indian trouble settled so far as 


^ it touched the territory that was immediately under 
Governor Harrison’s command, when the differences 
and disputes with Great Britain, that had been grow- 
ing in magnitude, even since the first treaty of peace, 
culminated in a declaration of war (June i8, 1812). 
England had for so long a time been mistress of the 
seas, that she not unnaturally assumed rights that no 
independent power could countenance. 

British seamen sometimes deserted from her war- 
ships and shipped upon American merchantmen, or 
even enlisted in the United States navy, and British 
officers assumed the right to search American vessels 
for all such persons. As they were not over-particular 
about full identification, the wrong men were sometimes 
seized and carried forcibly on board His Majesty’s 
ships. Lengthy correspondence between the two gov- 
ernments failed to adjust matters satisfactorily, and at 
last the United States determined to submit no longer 
to such indignities. 


263 


264 A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 

The American navy was insignificant in size as com- 
pared with that of Great Britain, but in quality it had 
no favors to ask. In what has been known as “The 
Quasi War with France” (1799-1800), and in the 
actual war with Tripoli (1802-1804), it had gained ex- 
perience in action that had proved its seamen and ships 
the equal of any in the world, and the memory of the 
struggle for independence was still fresh in the minds 
of many men who were not yet past middle life. 

We, who were west of the Alleghanies, although 
proud enough of the exploits of our salt-water blue- 
jackets, were more directly interested in that portion 
of the navy that operated on the Great Lakes, dividing 
us from the acknowledged possessions of Great Britain 
in Canada, and still more interested in the movements 
of land forces along our border. 

The British were better prepared for war than we, 
and promptly, upon a declaration of hostilities, surprised 
and captured the garrison at Mackinac, and five days 
later had possession of Chicago. General Hull invaded 
Canada on July 12, but was compelled to retreat to De- 
troit, where he disgracefully surrendered with his garri- 
son of twenty-five hundred men, on the i6th of August. 

It so happened that ju.st before this time Governor 
Harrison had addressed a letter to the Secretary of 
War, in which he anticipated many of the early dis- 


WAR WITH ENGLAND. 


265 


asters that afterward actually befell our arms. This, 
and the high esteem in which he was held throughout 
the west, pointed to him as the man of all others who 
should be given command of the troops that were 
rapidly enrolled for the defence of the northern 
frontier. 

Throughout this region the war was popular. Ken- 
tucky enlisted fifty-five hundred men ; Ohio, twelve 
hundred ; and old Revolutionary veterans vied with 
younger Indian fighters to redeem the honor that had 
been lost through lack of preparation and incompetency. 

When, therefore, Harrison was commissioned major- 
general of Kentucky militia, and later (September 2, 
1812) was appointed a brigadier-general in the United 
States Regulars, the news was received with great 
satisfaction by all who had the interests of the country 
at heart. One of the chief advocates of his promotion 
was Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and at the height of his popularity in his 
native State of Kentucky. 

General Harrison’s first duty was to make good the 
demoralization resulting from Hull’s surrender and the 
other disasters to our arms, which left not a fort in 
the upper lakes that we could call our own. Along all 
that immense frontier, English agents were inciting the 
Indians to renewed hostilities with such success that 


266 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


the settlers fled in terror to points where they could 
combine for mutual protection. 

Learning that Fort Wayne was in danger of capture 
by Indians, Harrison, though short of arms and muni- 
tions of war, pushed forward to its relief, and shortly 
afterward was appointed by the President to the chief 
command of the Northwestern army, the most exten- 
sive and important authority that had ever, up to that 
time, been granted to a soldier of the Republic, Wash- 
ington and Greene alone excepted. In the letter for- 
warded by the Secretary of War, he was thus instructed : 
“You will command such means as may be practicable, 
exercise your own discretion, and act in all cases ac- 
cording to your own judgment.” 

President Madison had known Harrison for more 
than ten years, and felt that any confidence reposed in 
him would not be misplaced. Our first march after 
this was to St. Mary’s and Defiance, and it was per- 
formed without tents and under rainy skies that 
drenched us to the skin night after night ; but although 
the men were short of food, there was no more than the 
ordinary grumbling that good soldiers always indulge in, 
and we made the most of the glorious news that had 
not long since reached us from the east ; namely, the 
capture of the Gnerri^re by the Constitution^ a naval 
triumph that made all Europe, and especially England, 


WAR WITH ENGLAND. 26/ 

rub its eyes and wonder if the skies were about to 
fall. 

General Winchester’s camp, where Harrison arrived 
after this march, was somewhat disorganized, and the 
very next morning he had to quell what was almost a 
mutiny in one of the Kentucky regiments. He ef- 
fected this, however, in his own tactful way, and the 
men returned to duty with a zeal that never afterward 
flagged. 

The general plan of campaign covered a line extend- 
ing from Sandusky to Fort Defiance; the force at 
Harrison’s disposal comprised regiments from Ohio, 
Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, which were bri- 
gaded so far as practicable so as to permit the men of 
each State to serve together. All necessary forts and 
fortified camps were constructed, boats and canoes were 
built, and in the autumn, expeditions were sent out a 
few hundred strong, as well for the purpose of field 
practice as to restrain the enemy from making incur- 
sions into our territory. 

The barbarities of all warfare were intensely repug- 
nant to General Harrison, and when savages were 
employed as allies there was an ever-present danger 
that the most dreadful atrocities would be committed 
alike against prisoners of war, and against such women 
and children as might be within reach. Our own 


268 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


troops, actuated by motives of revenge, had not always 
been above blame in this regard, and the British had 
never been successful in restraining their red-skinned 
allies when the opportunity offered for them to indulge 
their natural modes of warfare. On one side, indeed, 
hardly any one believed that the English officers made 
any effort whatever at restraint,’ but it is not fair to 
assume that they were altogether without humanity in 
this regard. 

General Harrison, at any rate, was determined to do 
all in his power to restrain his own troops even when 
Indians were their immediate opponents, and to his 
honor be it remembered that in a general order issued 
just after Colonel Campbell had returned from a suc- 
cessful raid against a well-fortified Indian village he 
said ; — 

“Let an account of murdered innocence be opened 
in the records of heaven against our enemies alone. 
The American soldier will follow the example of his 
Government, and the sword of the one will not be raised 
against the fallen and helpless, nor the gold of the other 
be paid for the scalps of a massacred enemy.” 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


THE SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS. 


S the season advanced it became evident that no 



movement of invasion could be successfully made 
before the spring of 1813, for the rigors of a Canadian 
winter were close upon us, and nothing could be done 
but perfect preparations for an early advance when 
another season should open. 

We had, however, some successes and some reverses 
to encourage and to dishearten us before the year 
closed, but it must be confessed that we did not upon 
the whole make much progress in our military operations 
on land. This was largely offset by the exploits of our 
little navy, for the contest between the Was/? and the 
Frolic in October, the destruction of the splendid Brit- 
ish frigate Java in December, and the fight between the 
Hornet the Peacock in February all told us that in 
fighting qualities American sailors were equal to the 
world-famed British men-o’-war’s-men, and General Har- 
rison lost no opportunity to encourage his men to 


269 


2/0 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


believe that they could give an equally good account of 
themselves on land if they had the chance. 

He had repeatedly urged the construction of a fleet 
to operate on the lakes, and soon had the satisfaction of 
learning that energetic measures to this end were under- 
taken by the Government. In the meantime he bent 
all his energies to the effective organization of his own 
campaign. The territory covered by his posts was so 
wide in extent that I was kept busy all winter riding 
from point to point with despatches, or guiding expedi- 
tions against Indian villages which threatened on one 
side, while British positions had to be watched on the 
other. I was well supplied with horses and equipments 
at Government expense, and passed upon the whole a 
very agreeable winter so far as I was personally con- 
cerned, for I could often stop at Cincinnati or North 
Bend, where I had many friends. 

A serious disaster overtook us at the river Raisin. 
General Winchester had fortified himself by General 
Harrison’s instructions at the Miami Rapids, and a 
few days afterward news came that a strong force of 
British and Indians was on its way to attack him. 
Harrison did not wish to bring on an engagement at 
this time, but not being present in person, could not 
restrain the impetuosity of such officers as com- 
manded the gallant Kentuckians. Colonel Lewis with 


THE SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS. 


271 


some six hundred men pushed forward to Frenchtown, 
where the enemy was in position to receive him. 
After a short and sharp fight, the enemy gave way 
after a heavy loss in killed and wounded ; and Lewis, 
with General Winchester’s approval, determined to 
follow up his success, by remaining on the ground 
instead of falling back to the fortified camp. 

This was an error of judgment, for General Proctor, 
the British commander, saw his opportunity for strik- 
ing a blow, brought down artillery, and, on the morn- 
ing of January 22, had the detachment at his mercy. 
The Americans fought gallantly, repelling several 
assaults, and at last the survivors surrendered only 
on the express pledge by the British commander, that 
the prisoners should be protected from the Indians, 
and should be treated as prisoners of war. 

For whatever reason, the conditions were totally 
disregarded, and a general massacre followed, the 
Indians having their own way with the unfortunate 
captives. “ Remember the river Raisin ” became a 
watchword among Western troops during the remain- 
der of the war. 

This disaster, which befell mainly because General 
Harrison’s directions were disregarded, of course de- 
layed offensive operations still farther. He reached 
the Rapids after the fight, having ridden thither with 


2/2 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


all possible despatch, and at once established a forti- 
fied post which was named “ Fort Meigs,’' after the 
governor of Ohio. 

Log quarters and blockhouses were constructed for 
four thousand men, and as soon as he could safely 
leave, the general repaired to Cincinnati to complete 
his preparations for the spring campaign. 

Two or three times before signs of spring began 
to show in the woods, I rode over the long trail 
between Fort Meigs and Cincinnati, and at length 
— on April Fool’s day, it so happened — I departed 
with despatches which I knew would bring the gen- 
eral promptly to the front. 

It had been learned through private sources that 
the British were intending to attack the camp, and 
word was accordingly sent to Harrison, who rode 
l)ack with me post-haste, and we arrived on the 12th 
of April, finding matters much as I had left them, but 
in far better condition than when the general departed 
in February. 

It was on the 28th of April that I was sent up the 
river with a squad of mounted scouts to reconnoitre as 
far as we could. We struck the enemy apparently in 
force some fifteen miles from camp, and had a very 
pretty little skirmish with his advance all the way back 
to our outposts. 


THE SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS. 


273 


The British camped on the opposite bank of the 
river, throwing up earthworks and sending their Indian 
allies across to surround our position and keep us 
occupied after their especial fashion, while the guns 
were placed. 

On May ist the English gunners were ready, and an 
artillery duel began, which lasted five days without 
doing any especial damage, as the range was long for 
that day and both sides were pretty well protected by 
earthworks. 

It was about midnight on May 4 when I was stand- 
ing with an advanced picket that had been posted just 
outside our works on the river bank, when the man on 
watch suddenly threw up his piece, cocking it as he did 
so, with a whispered warning to me. Shading my eyes 
from the dim starlight, I made out something moving, 
and presently we heard a low whistle, which we both 
recognized as a white man’s signal. I went forward 
cautiously and was soon near enough to identify the 
stranger as Captain Oliver, whom I immediately led to 
headquarters, where he told the general that General 
Clay, with a detachment of three thousand Kentuckians, 
was within a few hours’ march. 

Captain Hamilton was immediately despatched with 
orders for eight hundred men to land above the British 
works and storm them in the morning, while the re- 


s 


274 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


mainder of the force should land on our side of the river 
and force their way through the Indians to the camp. 

Harrison, anxious to see in person that his orders 
were well carried out, took his stand upon one of the 
parapets, heedless of the exposure, and watched the 
progress of events. After some resistance from the 
Indians the main body of the Kentuckians reached 
the gates of the fort, but before entering, turned and 
charged the foe, just to show how little they cared 
for them. 

Shortly afterward Colonel John Miller with his 
regulars was ordered to charge an English battery that 
had been thrown up on our side of the river. This was 
done in fine style, the regulars carrying the battery with 
a rush, spiking the guns, capturing forty-one of the 
garrison, and getting back to the camp within three- 
quarters of an hour. Their loss, however, was heavy; 
i8o killed and wounded out of 350 men who marched 
out to the assault, in the face of 200 British regulars, 
150 Canadians, and 500 Indians. 

While this lively work was in progress. Captain Peter 
Dudley had carried out his orders on the other side 
of the stream, capturing the enemy’s works without 
losing a man, and we had the satisfaction of seeing the 
red flag of England come fluttering down to the para- 
pet where it had defiantly waved for nearly a week. 


THE SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS. 


275 


Dudley now made the mistake of lingering too long 
before obeying the recall signals that were at once 
shown, and lost not only his own life, but most of his 
men in consequence, for they were cut off and captured 
before a rescue party could be sent to their aid, and 
under the eyes of the British officers were handed over 
to the Indian allies, who tomahawked and scalped them 
with no one to interfere until the noble Tecumseh 
reached the scene, when he exclaimed, “ For shame! 
It is a disgrace to kill a defenceless prisoner,” and he 
at once stopped the massacre, which General Proctor 
had taken no steps to prevent. 

Tecumseh, while a formidable foe, had noble instincts, 
and this act entitles him to rank with his American 
adversary, whose humane words are quoted a few pages 
back. 

This action occurred on May 5, and three days after- 
ward General Proctor broke camp and withdrew his 
force, though he went through the formality of send- 
ing a flag with a summons to surrender, which General 
Harrison treated as a piece of official impertinence, 
which could only be excused on the ground that it 
would read well in the unavoidable report of the cam- 
paign to the war office at home in England. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


INVASION OF CANADA. 

F ort MEIGS waa again threatened early in July, 
and was for some time surrounded by Indians, so 
that it was impossible to venture outside the stockade, 
but plans were changed, and a heavy attack was directed 
instead against Fort Stephenson at Lower Sandusky, 
where Major George Croghan of the 17th Infantry 
was in command with a force of one hundred and sixty 
regulars. 

On the morning of July 31, a force of British and 
Indians, thirteen thousand strong, under General Proc- 
tor, attenjpted to storm this post, which was in fact 
merely a trading-station fortified and strengthened 
for defence. The two assaulting columns were re- 
pulsed with such loss that on the following day the 
whole force retreated, and Major Croghan, a young man 
of only twenty-five, found himself famous ; but the 
political opponents of Mr. Madison found in some 
of the attendant circumstances an opportunity to attack 
General Harrison with all the bitterness of partisan 
276 


INVASION OF CANADA. 


277 


hatred. The army, however, including Major Croghan 
himself, treated these attacks with contempt, and the 
general was more beloved than ever by his men. 

Harrison now found himself in a position to carry the 
war into the enemy’s country. Commodore Perry had 
hastily constructed, out of green forest timber, a squad- 
ron that he considered capable of dealing with the 
British fleet anchored at Malden, — a conviction which 
the result justified. 

The reader must look elsewhere for details of the 
battle of Lake Erie. Suflice it to say here that Com- 
modore Perry’s orders to his captains were, “ Engage 
each your designated adversary, in close action, at half- 
cable’s length.” 

At daylight, on September 10, the enemy was 
sighted, and Perry hoisted his fighting flag with the 
legend, “Don’t give up the ship.” By noon both 
fleets were at it hammer and tongs, and at three o’clock 
in the afternoon every British ship had struck her 
colors. 

To General Harrison, Commodore Perry wrote, “ We 
have met the enemy, and they are ours,” and to the 
Secretary of War : “ It has pleased the Almighty to give 
to the arms of the United States a signal victory over 
their enemies on this lake. The British squadron, com 
sisting of two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one 


278 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


sloop, have this moment surrendered to the force under 
my command after a sharp conflict.” Preparations for 
the invasion of Canada were now made with energy, 
and on September 20, Harrison, with the detachment of 
regulars, sailed with Perry to reconnoitre Malden. On 
the 26th, the army landed, but General Proctor, the 
British commander, convinced apparently that resist- 
ance was vain now that the British fleet was captured, 
set fire to all combustible property and retreated to a 
strong position on the river Thames, his left flank 
resting upon the river, and his right protected by a not 
easily passable swamp, in and beyond which were 
TecUmseh and his two thousand Indians. 

It is supposed that General Proctor had heard that 
the Americans fought the Indians successfully in open 
order, that is with intervals between the men. At all 
events, I was sitting on my horse near the staff while 
the divisions were forming up in line of battle, and 
noticed this unusual formation on the part of the 
enemy. While I was wondering what it meant. Colonel 
Wood called out, “ General ! do you see ? They are 
in open order ! ” Harrison, whose attention had been 
fixed upon the disposition of his own troops, raised his 
glass and swept it along the extended red line of infan- 
trymen. 

“You are right. Wood, so they are,” and turning to 


INVASION OF CANADA. 


279 


one of his aids, — Colonel Todd, I think, — he bade him 
ride down and tell Johnson to charge with his whole 
squadron. Todd galloped off as hard as he could go 
and delivered the order. 

Colonel R. M. Johnson had some months before 
raised a regiment of mounted men, Kentuckians, with 
whom he had already done some gallant fighting against 
the Indians. This was just the opportunity he had 
longed for, to try his hand against a disciplined foe, and 
he dashed forward at the head of his men with such 
impetuosity that they rode through and over the British 
line as if it had been made of toy soldiers. 

Had the line been in the usual solid formation, this 
could not have been accomplished — would not have 
been tried, indeed, for the force of mounted men was 
wholly inadequate. Through they went, however, in 
gallant style, and when they reined up to re-form, 
found that their late adversaries had thrown down their 
arms and were asking for quarter. 

At this point, Tecumseh, seeing a chance, as he 
thought, to save the day, led his Indians against the 
horsemen, dashing in among the troopers, and using his 
tomahawk right and left, till he fell, mortally wounded, 
almost by the side of Colonel Johnson, who was already 
disabled by a gunshot. 

This incident probably gave rise to the popular song 


28 o 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


with the well-known refrain, “Colonel Johnson killed 
Tecumseh.” 

Our army numbered 2500, of whom 350 only were 
regulars. The British had 845 regulars and 2000 
Indians, of whom we took 600 prisoners ; and, despite 
the example set us by our adversaries, treated them 
with the consideration due from civilized soldiers. 

General Proctor succeeded in making his escape 
with a few of his command, and narrowly avoided 
capture, for some of our mounted men were close 
upon him at one time. 

That night Harrison invited thirty-five British offi- 
cers to dine with him, and was obliged to apologize 
for the fare, which was fresh roasted beef, without 
either bread or salt. “ It is all that I have to offer 
you, gentlemen,” he said in apology, “ all that any of 
us have ; but, although it may not be equal to the 
‘roast beef of Old England,’ which I hope you will 
all shortly taste, it is a fairly good substitute when one 
is hungry. The wine, which, as you see, is a native 
Canadian article, you may drink with impunity, for it 
will never intoxicate. Gentlemen, here’s to your very 
good health and a speedy and lasting peace.” With 
this he bowed, and raised to his lips a cup of cold 
water, with the like of which his guests were fain to 
be content. 


INVASION OF CANADA. 


281 


This engagement practically ended the campaign 
in Upper Canada. Harrison and Perry were received 
everywhere with the greatest enthusiasm, and public 
rejoicings were held in their honor wherever they 
passed on their way to Washington. 

This campaign practically ended the adventurous 
part of my dear general’s life. Owing, probably, to 
jealousy on the part of the Secretary of War, he was 
assigned to a command so unimportant that he imme- 
diately tendered his resignation, which, during the 
temporary absence of the President, was accepted by 
the Secretary of War. Thus, to the great indignation 
and regret of the army and a very large majority of 
the people, his services were lost to the country during 
the ensuing campaigns. 

The Treaty of Ghent put an end to the second war 
with Great Britain, or, as it has not inaptly been called, 
“the second war for independence”; and in 1816, hav- 
ing acted as a commissioner to treat with the Western 
Indians, Harrison was elected to Congress, where he 
served with honor in spite of sundry malignant attacks 
upon his official character by narrow-minded enemies ; 
and the two houses at last united in voting to him 
and to Governor Shelby of Kentucky two gold medals 
in recognition of their distinguished military services. 

This resolution was passed with but one dissenting 


282 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


voice, and was intended as a marked acknowledgment 
of an injustice into which Congress had been led by 
personal enemies of General Harrison, who were in- 
capable of appreciating the lofty motives by which he 
was actuated throughout his public career. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


PRESIDENT HARRISON. 

T O an old^soldier whose failing memory goes back 
to a hundred fights, and to frontier adventures 
covering near half a century, there seems but little 
to relate about the times of peace that followed General 
Harrison’s resignation from the army. There were, 
to be sure, other events of a stirring and warlike 
nature, such, for instance, as the capture of our fine 
new frigate Chesapeake by the Shannon in Boston 
harbor, the burning of Washington by the British, the 
defence of Fort McHenry, when the “ Star-Spangled 
Banner” was written, the battle of New Orleans, and 
other glorious victories upon the ocean and upon the 
Lakes. 

But with none of these had I any personal con- 
nection, and, indeed, my mind was somewhat distracted 
from military matters ; for after my general’s resigna- 
tion I obtained my discharge, and by his request built 
myself a comfortable cabin on a quarter-section of 
land that he gave me on the banks of the Ohio, near 

283 


284 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


North Bend. My own affairs have little to do with 
this narrative, for all of them that possess any interest 
for the average reader concern personages of far more 
consequence than Sergeant Bassett. 

I write this with the Mexican War in progress, or, 
rather, nearly concluded — a most unjustifiable war, 
to my thinking, but I have not been able to avoid 
taking an interest in it, since my own countrymen are 
engaged in its prosecution. 

Soon after my cabin was finished I married a young 
woman whose acquaintance I had formed in the old 
Fort Washington days, and we set up housekeeping 
in my home, while General Harrison was in Congress, 
or engaged in the discharge of other public trusts, 
for he was ever active in local affairs, and in the 
management of his own property. In 1819 he was 
elected to the State Senate of Ohio, and served two 
years; in 1824 he was sent to the United States 
Senate, where, as chairman of the military committee, 
his army experience enabled him to suggest many 
improvements in the administration of army affairs, 
including a reform in the pension office, which brought 
comfort to many an old soldier whose days were like 
to end in poverty and want. 

In 1828 he was appointed minister to the Republic 
of Colombia, which had for long been in a state of 


PRESIDENT HARRISON. 


285 


disquiet and civil war. There he formed the ac- 
quaintance of General Bolivar, “the Washington of 
South America,” whose name is inseparably connected 
with the final expulsion of Spain from the colonies 
which she had so long misruled. 

Andrew Jackson’s election to the Presidency of the 
United States, and his inauguration on March 4, 1829, 
was immediately followed by the recall of Harrison, 
who had incurred the new President’s lasting enmity 
by certain criticisms of his conduct during the Seminole 
War. “ Old Hickory ” was not the man to forgive 
criticism, even when it was so courteously and con- 
siderately made as in the present instance. He lost 
few opportunities to humiliate those who ventured to 
differ with him, among whom Harrison more than once 
felt bound to take his stand. 

On reaching home and closing up his official corre- 
spondence, to my great joy he came to live upon his 
farm at North Bend, where I could see him whenever I 
chose, and where he speedily recovered from the effects 
of his residence in the unfamiliar climate of South 
America. 

His position on the temperance question, which has 
sometimes been severely commented upon, is best 
shown by a speech delivered before the Hamilton 
County Agricultural Society on June 16, 1831. In 


286 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


alluding, to the conversion of corn into intoxicating 
liquors, he said : — 

“ I speak more freely of the practice of converting 
material of the ‘ staff of life,’ for the want of which so 
many human beings yearly perish, into an article so de- 
structive of health and happiness, because in that way I 
have sinned myself ; but in that way I shall sin no more.” 

This was in reference to a distillery which he had set 
up a year or two before, but which he discontinued as 
soon as his attention was drawn to the evil effects that 
might result from its operation. 

In the same address, afterward largely quoted to his 
honor, he drew a picture of the American farmer as he 
ought to be, and his friends could not help saying to 
one another that he had unconsciously painted his own 
portrait. 

The general was out of politics after this until 1836, 
when he was nominated for the Presidency in opposition 
to Martin Van Buren. He was defeated though he 
received seventy-two electoral votes, mainly from the 
Middle and Western States, and so was permitted to 
continue his quiet life at North Bend, where he liter- 
ally earned his bread by hard work. He served for a 
time as clerk of the Court of Common Pleas at Cincin- 
nati, a position which brought him in a modest income 
in the way of fees. 


PRESIDENT HARRISON. 


287 


A distinguished Frenchman, who chanced to meet 
him at this time, was greatly shocked and astonished to 
learn that a man who had served the Republic with such 
distinction should be permitted to eke out a living as 
clerk of an inferior court. 

Yet such was the case : A general of the regular 
army, the hero of Tippecanoe and the Thames, victor 
over Tecumseh, the Shawnee Prophet, and the British 
general, Proctor, Governor of the Northwest Territory 
and of Indiana, United States senator, and minister to 
the most important of the South American republics. 
Here he was grown old in the service of his country, 
and allowed to supplement the scant earnings of his 
farm by filling out law blanks hour after hour in an ill- 
ventilated court room. No wonder that the incredulous 
foreigner marvelled at the ingratitude of the Republic, 
and wrote home that the ways of Americans were quite 
incomprehensible to a Frenchman.^ 

General Harrison never complained, but went straight 
about his duties as he always had done, whether as a 
civilian or as a soldier, and I think that no one was 
more surprised than he when he heard the result of the 
National Whig Convention, at Harrisburg, Pennsyl- 
vania, held on December 4, 1839. 


1 “Lettres sur Amerique du Nord,” by Michel Chevalier. 


288 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


He was then and there nominated for the Presidency, 
and one of the most bitter and exciting political cam- 
paigns that the country has ever known resulted in his 
triumphant election. 

Of the excesses and misrepresentations of that cam- 
paign, accounts of which reached me in my quiet home 
at North Bend, I will say nothing here. 

The ^‘Tip and Ty” campaign of 1840 is passed and 
gone ; the log cabins that were mounted on wheels and 
hauled about the streets to glorify the simple habits of 
the candidate are no more ; the popular songs that were 
written in his honor are half forgotten, and he, too, has 
passed untimely away. 

People in general, and young people in particular, do 
not care overmuch to hear about the last hours of the 
great and good, and I shall waste neither time nor paper 
in telling how the brave young Virginian, who spent the 
days of his youth in founding the Northwest Territory, 
accepted the highest office in the gift of the nation, only 
to have his commission recalled by a still higher power. 

At the impressive ceremonies of the inauguration, I 
stood near him when he delivered his inaugural address, 
which I shall always think is the finest one that ever an 
incoming President pronounced. I wanted to have it 
printed with the rest of this narrative, but my grand- 
daughter tells me that nobody would read it ; and I sup- 


PRESIDENT HARRISON. 


289 


pose that she knows. I felt rather out of place among 
all the distinguished people who thronged to the Capitol 
to do honor to the new Chief Magistrate ; but it did my 
heart good to find myself remembered by old army offi- 
cers, not one of whom hesitated an instant in coming 
forward and shaking hands with me. Colonel Johnson, 
whom I had last seen when he fell from his horse 
almost at the dying Tecumseh’s side. Colonels Todd 
and Chambers, who were Harrison’s aids at the battle of 
the Thames, and many others, were kind enough to 
remember the old sergeant of the Legion and captain 
of scouts. 

All through the inaugural ceremonies I was somehow 
oppressed with a dread of coming disaster, but I had 
often experienced similar presentiments which came to 
naught, so I made the best of it and said nothing, 
although that night after the crowd of visitors had 
departed, I saw well enough that the President was not 
in his usual spirits ; and he went to his private room at 
the earliest opportunity. 

The next mgrning, after breakfast, he asked me to 
walk with him down Pennsylvania Avenue, as he had 
one or two purchases to make, and the first place that 
we entered was a bookstore, where he asked to see the 
best editions of the Bible that the proprietor had on 
hand. 


u 


290 


A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION. 


He was recognized, of course, by the storekeeper 
and his clerks, and was treated with all consideration, 
for it was not a small thing to have the popular new 
President so promptly among his customers. 

In the course of the talk that went on while he made 
his selection, I remember that he said: “I was much 
surprised and troubled yesterday [the day of his inau- 
guration], when I went through every room in the 
White House, and could not find a single copy of the 
Holy Scriptures. It is very strange in the Execu- 
tive Mansion of a God-fearing people like the Ameri- 
cans. This is not right ! I intend to purchase out of 
the congressional appropriation the best copy of the 
Bible that I can find, and write in it, ‘The President of 
the United States, from the People of the United 
States.’ ” 

After a few more purchases, we went back to the 
White House — I carrying most of the parcels, while 
the President, refusing to have the volume sent home 
by the bookseller’s errand boy, insisted upon keeping 
the Bible in his own hands. 

9 

Thus was inaugurated the brief four weeks of resi- 
dence in the White House of this simple-minded, brave, 
patriotic statesman and soldier. 

Just one month afterward, with some of his old staff 
officers at his bedside, he breathed his last, and a few 


PRESIDENT HARRISON. 


291 


days later the Reverend Mr. Hawley, rector of St. 
John’s Church, conducted the funeral services of the 
President at the White House, while the news went 
abroad that the popular Chief Magistrate was no more. 

The Bible that the rector held in his hand at this 
solemn service, and from which he read the impressive 
passages selected by the church for such occasions, 
was the very one in which Mr. Harrison had reverently 
written a few days before: “To the President of the 
United States, by the People of the United States.” 







W. A. Wilde Co.^ Publishers. 


War of the Revolution Series. 

By Everett T. Tomlinson. 

r HREE COLONIAL BOYS. A Story of the Times 

of ’76. 368 pp. Cloth, ^1.50, 

It is a story of three boys who were drawn into the events of the times, is patriotic, . 
exciting, clean, and healthful, and instructs without appearing to. The heroes are 
manly boys, and no objectionable language or character is introduced. The lessons of 
courage and patriotism especially will be appreciated in this day. — Boston Transcript. 

r 'HREE YOUNG CONTINENTALS. A Story of 

the American Revolution. 364 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 

This story is historically true. It is the best kind of a story either for boys or girls, 
and is an attractive method of teaching history. — Journal 0/ Edtication, Boston, 

TJfTASHINGTON' S YOUNG AIDS. A Story of the 

rr New Jersey Campaign, 1776-1777. 391pp. Cloth, $1.50. 

The book has enough history and description to give value to the story which ought 
to captivate enterprising boys. — Quarterly Book Review. 

The historical details of the story are taken from old records. These include 
accounts of the life on the prison ships and prison houses of New York, the raids of the 
pine robbers, the tempting of the Hessians, the end of Fagan and his band, etc, — 
Ptiblisher' s Weekly. 

Few boys’ stories of this class show so close a study of history combined with such 
genial story-telling power. — The Outlook. 

r wo YOUNG PATRIOTS. A Story of Burgoyne’s 

Invasion. 366 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 

The crucial campaign in the American struggle for independence came in the sum- 
mer of 1777, when Gen, John Burgoyne marched from Canada to cut the rebellious 
colonies asunder and join another British army which was to proceed up the valley of 
the Hudson. The American forces were brave, hard fighters, and they worried and 
harassed the British and finally defeated them. The history of this campaign is one 
of great interest and is well brought out in the part which the “ two young patriots” 
took in the events which led up to the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army. 

The set of four volumes in a box, $6.00. 


OUCCESS. By Orison Swett Marden. Author of 

kj “Pushing to the Front,” “Architects of Fate,” etc. 317pp. 

Cloth, $1.25. 

It is doubtful whether any success books for the young have appeared in modern 
times which are so thoroughly packed from lid to lid with stimulating, uplifting, and in- 
spiring material as the self-help books written by Orison Swett Marden, There is not a 
dry paragraph nor a single line of useless moralizing in any of his books. 

To stimulate, inspire, and guide is the mission of his latest book, “ Success,” and 
helpfulness is its keynote. Its object is to spur the perplexed youth to act the Columbus 
to his own undiscovered possibilities ; to urge him not to wait for great opportunities, 
but to seize common occasions and make them great, for he cannot tell when fate may 
take his measure for a higher place. 


W. A. Wilde 6^ Ct?., Boston and Chicago. 


1 


W. A. Wilde <St^ Co., Publishers. 


Brain and Brawn Series, 

By William Drysdale. 

r 'HE YOUNG REPORTER. A Story of Printing 

House Square. 300 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 

I commend the book unreservedly. — Golden Rule. 

“ The Young Reporter” is a rattling book for boys. — New York Recorder. 

The best boys’ book I ever read. — Mr. Phillips, Critic for New York Times. 

r 'HE EAST MAIL. A Story of a Train Boy. 328 pp. 
Cloth, $1.50. 

“ The Fast Mail ” is one of the very best American books for boys brought out this 
season. Perhaps there could be no better confirmation of this assertion than the fact 
that the little sons of the present writer have greedily devoured the contents of the vol- 
ume, and are anxious to know how soon they are to get a sequel. — The Art Amateur, 
New York. 


CT"'HE BEACH PATROL. A Story of the Life-Saving 

J, Service. 318 pp. Cloth, ^1.50. 

The style of narrative is excellent, the lesson inculcated of the best, and, above all, 
the boys and girls are real. — New York Times. 

A book of adventure and daring, which should delight as well as stimulate to higher 
ideals of life every boy who is so happy as to possess it. — Examiner. 

It is a strong book for boys and young men. — Buffalo Commercial. 

r HE YOUNG SUPERCARGO. A Story of the 

Merchant Marine. 352 pp. Cloth, $i.$o. 

Kit Silburn is a real “ Brain and Brawn ” boy, full of sense and grit and sound 
good qualities. Determined to make his way in life, and with no influential friends to 
give him a start, he does a deal of hard work between the evening when he first meets 
the stanch Captain Griffith, and the proud day when he becomes purser of a great 
ocean steamship. His sea adventures are mostly on shore; but whether he is cleaning 
the cabin of the North Ca/e, or landing cargo in Yucatan, or hurrying the spongers 
and fruitmen of Nassau, or exploring London, or sight seeing with a disguised prince 
in Marseilles, he is always the same busy, thoroughgoing, manly Kit. Whether or not 
he has a father alive is a question of deep interest throughout the story ; but that he 
has a loving and loyal sister is plain from the start. 

The set of four volumes in a box, $6.00. 


nERAPH, THE LITTLE VIOLINISTE. 

O C, V. Jamieson. 300 pp. Cloth, |i. 50. 


By Mrs. 


The scene of the story is the French quarter of New Orleans, and charming bits of 
local color add to its attractiveness. — The Boston Journal. 

Perhaps the most charming story she has ever written is that which describes Seraph, 
the little violiniste. — Transcript, Boston. 


W. A. Wilde Cc., Boston and Chicago. 


2 


IV. A. Wilde dr’ C<?., Publishers. 


Travel= Ad venture Series. 



A story of absorbing interest. — Boston Journal. 

Our young people will pronounce it unusually good. — Albany Argus. 

Col. Knox has struck a popular note in his latest volume. — Springfield Republican. 


r HE LAND OF THE KANGAROO. By Thos. 

W. Knox. Adventures of Two Boys in the Great Island Con- 
tinent. 318 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 

His descriptions of the natural history and botany of the country are very interest- 
ing. — Detroit Free Press. 

The actual truthfulness of the book needs no gloss to add to its absorbing interest. — 
The Book Buyer, New York. 



VER THE ANDES ; or., Oiir Boys in New South 

America. By Hezekiah Butterworth. 368 pp. Cloth, 


$1.50. 

No writer of the present century has done more and better service than Hezekiah 
Butterworth in the production of helpful literature for the young. In this volume he 
writes, in his own fascinating way, of a country too little known by American readers. — 


Christian Work. 

Mr. Butterworth is careful of his historic facts, and then he charmingly interweaves 
his quaint stories, legends, and patriotic adventures as few writers can. — Chicago Inter- 
Ocean 

The subject is an inspiring one, and Mr. Butterworth has done full justice to the 
high ideals which have inspired the men of South America. — Religious Telescope. 



OST IN NICARAGUA ; or. The lands of the Great 

Canal. By Hezekiah Butterworth. 295 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 


The book pictures the wonderful land of Nicaragua and continues the story of the 
travelers whose adventures in South America are related in “ Over the Andes.” In this 
companion book to “ Over the Andes,” one of the boy travelers who goes into the 
Nicaraguan forests in search of a quetzal, or the royal bird of the Aztecs, falls into an 
ancient idol cave, and is rescued in a remarkable way by an old Mosquito Indian. The 
narrative is told in such a way as to give the ancient legends of Guatemala, the story of 
the chieftain, Nicaragua, the history of the Central American Republics, and the natural 
history of the wonderlands of the ocelot, the conger, parrots, and monkeys. 

Since the voyage of the Oregon, of 13,000 miles to reach Key West the American 
people have seen what would be the value of the Nicaragua Canal. The book gives the 
history of the projects for the canal, and facts about Central America, and a part of it 
was written in Costa Rica. It enters a new field. 

The set of four volumes in a box, $6.00. 



UARTERDECK 
Elliott Seawell. 


AND EOKSLE. 

272 pp. Cloth, $1.25. 


By Molly 


Miss Seawell has done a notable work for the young people of our country in her 
excellent stories of naval exploits. They are of the kind that causes the reader, no 
matter whether young or old, to thrill with pride and patriotism at the deeds of daring 
of the heroes of our navy. 


W. A. Wilde Co., Boston and Chicago. 


3 


IV. A. Wilde 6^ Co., Publishers. 


Fighting for the Flag Series. 

By Chas. Ledyard Norton. 


J 


*ACK BENSON’ S LOG ; or., Afloat with the Elagin 

’6i. 281pp. Cloth, ^1.25. 


An unusually interesting historical story, and one that will arouse the loyal impulse's 
of every American boy and girl. I’he story is distinctly Superior to anything ever 
attempted along this line before. — The Independent. 

A story that will arouse the loyal impulses of every American boy and girl. — The 
Press. 



MEDAL OE LLONOR MAN; or., Cruising Among 

Blockade Runners. 280 pp. Cloth, ^1.25. 


A bright, breezy sequel to “ Jack Benson’s Log.” The book has unusual literary 
excellence. — The Book Biiyer, Ne^v York. 

A stirring story for boys. — The Journal, Indianapolis. 


T^T LDSLLLPMAN yACK. 290 pp. Cloth, $1.25. 

d- Jack is a delightful hero, and the author has made his experiences and ad- 

ventures seem very real. — Congregationalist. 

It is true historically and full of exciting war scenes and adventures. — Outlook. 

A stirring story of naval service in the Confederate waters during the late war. — 
Presbyterian. 

The set of three volumes in a box, $3.75. 



GLRL OE ’y 6 . By Amy E. Blanchard. 
Cloth, $1.50. 


331 PP- 


“ A Girl of ’76” lays its scene in and around Boston where the principal events of 
the early period of the Revolution were enacted. Elizabeth Hall, the heroine, is the 
daughter of a patriot who is active in the defense of his country. The story opens with 
a scene in Charlestown, where Elizabeth Hall and her parents live. The emptying of 
the tea in Boston Harbor is the means of giving the little girl her first strong impression 
as to the seriousness of her father’s opinions, and causes a quarrel between herself and 
her schoolmate and playfellow, Amos Dwight. 



SOLDLER OF THE LEGLON 

YARD Norton. 300 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 


By Chas. Led- 


Two boys, a Carolinian and a Virginian, born a few years apart during the last half 
of the eighteenth century, afford the groundwork for the incidents of this tale. 

The younger of the two was William Henry Harrison, sometime President of the 
United States, and the elder, his companion and faitliful attendant through life, was 
Carolinus Bassett, Sergeant of the old First Infantry, and in an irregular sort of a way 
Captain of Virginian Horse. He it is who tells the story a few years after President 
Harrison’s death, his granddaughter acting as critic and amanuensis. 

The story has to do with the early days of the Republic, when the great, wild, un- 
known West was beset by dangers on every hand, and the Government at Washington 
was at its wits’ end to provide ways and means to meet the perplexing problems of 
national existence. 


W. A. Wilde Co., Boston and Chicago. 


4 






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